Boas' or Boas's sign is
hyperaesthesia
Hyperesthesia is a condition that involves an abnormal increase in sensitivity to stimuli of the sense. Stimuli of the senses can include sound that one hears, foods that one tastes, textures that one feels, and so forth. Increased touch sensitiv ...
(increased or altered sensitivity) below the right
Hypochondrium
In anatomy, the division of the abdomen into regions can employ a nine-region scheme. The hypochondrium refers to the two hypochondriac regions in the upper third of the abdomen; the left hypochondrium and right hypochondrium. They are located o ...
or 12th rib region, which can be a symptom in
acute
Acute may refer to:
Science and technology
* Acute angle
** Acute triangle
** Acute, a leaf shape in the glossary of leaf morphology
* Acute (medicine), a disease that it is of short duration and of recent onset.
** Acute toxicity, the adverse eff ...
cholecystitis
Cholecystitis is inflammation of the gallbladder. Symptoms include right upper abdominal pain, pain in the right shoulder, nausea, vomiting, and occasionally fever. Often gallbladder attacks (biliary colic) precede acute cholecystitis. The pain l ...
(inflammation of the
gallbladder). It is one of many signs a medical provider may look for during an
abdominal examination.
Originally this sign referred to point tenderness in the region to the right of the 10th to 12th thoracic vertebrae.
It is less than 7% sensitive.
Its namesake is
Ismar Isidor Boas
Ismar Isidor Boas (28 March 1858 – 15 March 1938) was a German gastroenterologist born in the town of Exin, then in the Prussian Province of Posen, today in Poland.
Boas was born in the family of a small merchant and among several siblings he w ...
(1858–1938), a German physician and the first licensed GI specialist in his country.
Boas' sign can also indicate stomach and duodenal disease. When the transverse processes of thoracic vertebrae T10-T12 are pressed or
effleuraged with the bottom of the hand, pain can appear at the left of
spinous processes (in
stomach's
lesser curvature ulcer) or at the right (in
pyloric
The pylorus ( or ), or pyloric part, connects the stomach to the duodenum. The pylorus is considered as having two parts, the ''pyloric antrum'' (opening to the body of the stomach) and the ''pyloric canal'' (opening to the duodenum). The ''pylori ...
or
duodenal ulcer
Peptic ulcer disease (PUD) is a break in the inner lining of the stomach, the first part of the small intestine, or sometimes the lower esophagus. An ulcer in the stomach is called a gastric ulcer, while one in the first part of the intestines ...
).
References
Medical signs
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