Abdominal Examination

Free fluid gravitates to the flanks while gas-filled bowel floats centrally

A memory aid for the anatomical basis of shifting dullness.

Fever, jaundice and right upper quadrant pain; add hypotension and confusion for the pentad

A mnemonic for the features of ascending cholangitis.

A palpable gallbladder with painless jaundice is unlikely to be due to stones

A memory aid for the significance of a palpable gallbladder in jaundice.

Cullen's is periumbilical bruising; Grey Turner's is flank bruising

A mnemonic for the two bruising signs of retroperitoneal haemorrhage.

Inspect, then palpate the canal, rectum and prostate

A memory aid for performing and interpreting a rectal examination.

You can get above a kidney and ballotte it; you cannot with a spleen

A memory aid for telling an enlarged left kidney from an enlarged spleen.

Inguinal is above and medial to the pubic tubercle; femoral is below and lateral

A mnemonic for distinguishing femoral from inguinal hernias at the bedside.

Examine standing and lying, with a cough impulse and reducibility

A memory aid for examining a groin or abdominal hernia.

Upper border at the fifth intercostal space, lower border at the right costal margin

A memory aid for percussing the liver and defining hepatomegaly.

Two-thirds of the way along a line from the umbilicus to the right anterior superior iliac spine

A memory aid for the surface marking of the base of the appendix.

Arrest of inspiration on palpating the right upper quadrant, from an inflamed gallbladder meeting the examining hand

A memory aid for the anatomical basis of Murphy's sign.

Pressure in the left iliac fossa produces pain in the right iliac fossa

A memory aid for the mechanism of Rovsing's sign in appendicitis.

Can you get above it, is it separate from the testis, does it transilluminate

A memory aid for examining a scrotal swelling.

Enlarges downwards and medially, towards the right iliac fossa

A memory aid for the direction in which an enlarging spleen is felt.