Beevor's sign
Beevor's sign is medical sign seen in the selective weakness of the lower abdominal muscles, involving the movement of the navel towards the head on flexing the neck.[1]
Etymology
The sign is named after Charles Edward Beevor, an English neurologist (1854–1908) who first described it.[2]
Pathophysiology
Beevor’s sign is characteristic of spinal cord injury between T9 and T10 levels.[3] This occurs when the upper part of the Rectus abdominis muscle is intact but the lower part is weak because of the spinal injury. Thus when the patient is asked to raise his head as he lies supine on bed, only the upper part of the muscle contracts pulling the umbilicus toward the head. The sign has also been observed in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a disease associated with progressive weakening of the muscles of multiple areas of the body, and in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, a disease of weakness of predominantly the facial, shoulder and upper arm muscles.[4]
References
- ↑ Pearce JM (2005). "Beevor's sign". Eur. Neurol. 53 (4): 208–9. PMID 16015010. doi:10.1159/000086731. Archived from the original on 2012-02-22.
- ↑ Tashiro K (July 2001). "Charles Edward Beevor (1854-1908)". J. Neurol. 248 (7): 635–6. PMID 11518013. doi:10.1007/s004150170149.
- ↑ Mathys, J; De Marchis, GM (Jan 8, 2013). "Teaching video neuroimages: Beevor sign: when the umbilicus is pointing to neurologic disease.". Neurology. 80 (2): e20. PMID 23296136. doi:10.1212/WNL.0b013e31827b90f9.
- ↑ Awerbuch GI, Nigro MA, Wishnow R (November 1990). "Beevor's sign and facioscapulohumeral dystrophy". Arch. Neurol. 47 (11): 1208–9. PMID 2146943. doi:10.1001/archneur.1990.00530110066018.