Kanavel's sign is a
clinical sign found in patients with infection of a flexor
tendon sheath
A tendon sheath is a layer of synovial membrane around a tendon. It permits the tendon to stretch and not adhere to the surrounding fascia.
It has two layers:
* synovial sheath
* fibrous tendon sheath
Fibroma
Fibromas are benign tumors that ...
in the
hand
A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each " ...
(flexor tenosynovitis), a serious condition which can cause rapid loss of function of the affected finger.
The sign consists of four components:
# the affected finger is held in slight
flexion
Motion, the process of movement, is described using specific anatomical terms. Motion includes movement of organs, joints, limbs, and specific sections of the body. The terminology used describes this motion according to its direction relativ ...
.
# there is fusiform
swelling over the affected
tendon
A tendon or sinew is a tough, high-tensile-strength band of dense fibrous connective tissue that connects muscle to bone. It is able to transmit the mechanical forces of muscle contraction to the skeletal system without sacrificing its ability ...
.
# there is
tenderness over the affected tendon.
# there is pain on passive
extension
Extension, extend or extended may refer to:
Mathematics
Logic or set theory
* Axiom of extensionality
* Extensible cardinal
* Extension (model theory)
* Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values that satisfy the predicate
* Ext ...
of the affected finger.
The sign is named after
Allen B. Kanavel Allen B. Kanavel (1874, Sedgwick, Kansas – 1938 Pasadena, California) was an American surgeon remembered for describing Kanavel's sign. He graduated from the Northwestern University School of Medicine in 1899. He spent six months in Vienna, ...
who first named them in 1912.
References
Medical signs
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