title: The clinical diagnosis of splenomegaly.
abstract: Assessing for the presence of splenomegaly is an important component of the physical examination. Although several methods of palpation and percussion of the spleen have been described, until recently they have not been validated by noninvasive imaging techniques such as ultrasonography, radionuclide scanning, and computed tomography that offer objective means to assess splenomegaly. We review the literature comparing various physical examination techniques with noninvasive imaging modalities and conclude that palpation and percussion of the spleen are complementary but frequently insensitive and that further studies are needed to evaluate the efficacy of specific diagnostic methods.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of California, San Diego.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Rickman
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Bosser
mesh_terms: D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D010173:Palpation / Q000379:methods; D010474:Percussion / Q000379:methods; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D013154:Spleen / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D013163:Splenomegaly / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014463:Ultrasonography