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Carnett's Sign

Indication
1. Acute Abdominal Pain Evaluation
Technique
1. Patient lies supine
2. Patient tenses abdominal wall
  1. Lifts head off table
  2. Lifts shoulder off table
Interpretation on tensing abdomen
1. Intra-Abdominal Pain source (Negative Carnett's Sign)
  1. Abdominal Pain decreases with tensing abdomen
2. Abdominal Muscle Wall Pain (Positive Carnett's Sign)
  1. Pain increases or remains unchanged
References
1. Thomson (1977) Lancet 2(8047):1053

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This page was written by Scott Moses, MD. This page was last revised before 5/10/08, prior to consistent tracking of revision date. This page was last published on 5/10/2008. Please send comments and questions to the editor. Contact information may be found on the page About the Family Practice Notebook. These pages are best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0.