Ballance's sign is used in
medical diagnosis
Medical diagnosis (abbreviated Dx, Dx, or Ds) is the process of determining which disease or condition explains a person's symptoms and signs. It is most often referred to as a diagnosis with the medical context being implicit. The information r ...
. Its indications are dullness to
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
in the left flank
LUQ and shifting dullness to percussion in the right flank seen with
splenic rupture/
hematoma
A hematoma, also spelled haematoma, or blood suffusion is a localized bleeding outside of blood vessels, due to either disease or trauma including injury or surgery and may involve blood continuing to seep from broken capillaries. A hematoma is ...
. During trauma assessment of the
abdomen
The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the tors ...
, "Ballance's sign" may be observed upon exam.
The dullness in the left flank is due to coagulated blood, the shifting dullness on the right due to fluid blood.
It is named for
Charles Alfred Ballance, an English surgeon, 1856–1936.
References
{{Digestive system and abdomen symptoms and signs
Medical signs