Hamman's sign

Hamman's sign (rarely, Hammond's sign[1] or Hammond's crunch[2]) is a crunching, rasping sound, synchronous with the heartbeat,[3] heard over the precordium in spontaneous mediastinal emphysema produced by the heart beating against air-filled tissues.

It is named after Johns Hopkins clinician Louis Hamman, M.D.[4]

This sound is heard best over the left lateral position. It has been described as a series of precordial crackles that correlate with the heart beat and not the respirations.

Also heard together with spontaneous pneumothorax; small and not a total lung collapse, on the left side. Sounds like bubbles hitting the inside of the chest. Can be felt/seen.

Causes

Hamman's crunch is caused by pneumomediastinum or pneumopericardium, and is associated with tracheobronchial injury[5] due to trauma, medical procedures (e.g., bronchoscopy) or proximal pulmonary bleb rupture. It is commonly seen in Boerhaave syndrome.

See also

References

  1. ↑ The Pericardium - Google Book Search. Retrieved 2008-11-26.
  2. ↑ Hadjis T, Palisaitis D, Dontigny L, Allard M (March 1995). "Benign pneumopericardium and tamponade". Can J Cardiol. 11 (3): 232–4. PMID 7889442.
  3. ↑ "Hamman sign" at Dorland's Medical Dictionary
  4. ↑ synd/3001 at Who Named It?
  5. ↑ . Chu CP, Chen PP (April 2002). "Tracheobronchial injury secondary to blunt chest trauma: Diagnosis and management". Anaesth Intensive Care. 30 (2): 145–52. PMID 12002920.

External links


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