Fothergill's sign is a

medical sign Signs and symptoms are diagnostic indications of an illness, injury, or condition. Signs are objective and externally observable; symptoms are a person's reported subjective experiences. A sign for example may be a higher or lower temperature ...

. If a mass in the abdominal wall does not cross midline and does not change with flexion of the rectus muscles, this is a positive sign for a

rectus sheath hematoma A rectus sheath hematoma is an accumulation of blood in the sheath of the rectus abdominis muscle. It causes abdominal pain with or without a mass. The hematoma may be caused by either rupture of the epigastric artery or by a muscular tear. Sev ...

. It is named for English obstetrician William Edward Fothergill, who described features of rectus sheath hematomas in a 1926 article in the

British Medical Journal ''The BMJ'' is a fortnightly peer-reviewed medical journal, published by BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, which in turn is wholly-owned by the British Medical Association (BMA). ''The BMJ'' has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world ...

entitled "Haematoma in the abdominal wall simulating pelvic new growth". In rectus sheath haematoma, the haematoma produces a mass that does not cross the midline and remains palpable when the rectus muscle is tense.

External links

Medical signs {{med-sign-stub