A comprehensive clinical examination is the basis for selecting further diagnostic steps:
- General physical examination – including blood pressure, pulse, body temperature, body weight, body height; further:
- Inspection (viewing).
- Skin and mucous membranes
- Abdomen (abdomen)
- Shape of the abdomen?
- Skin color? Skin texture?
- Efflorescences (skin changes)?
- Pulsations? Bowel movements?
- Visible vessels?
- Scars? Hernias (fractures)?
- Inspection and palpation (palpation) of the thyroid gland [due todifferential diagnosis: hyperthyroidism (hyperthyroidism)].
- Auscultation (listening) of the heart
- Auscultation of the lungs
- Palpation of the abdomen (belly) (tenderness?, knocking pain?, coughing pain?, defensive tension?, hernial orifices?, renal bearing knocking pain?) [cramping abdominal pain.]
- Digital rectal examination (DRU): examination of rectum (rectum) [blood in stool (hematochezia) or melena (tarry stool)); mucus in stool; rare complications (especially in infants and young children: Invagination (invagination of one segment of intestine into another)][due todifferential diagnosis:
- Crohn’s disease (chronic inflammatory bowel disease; it usually progresses in episodes and can affect the entire digestive tract; characteristic is the segmental involvement of the intestinal mucosa, which means that several intestinal segments may be affected that are separated by healthy segments).
- Inspection (viewing).
- Cancer screening [due todifferential diagnosis: colon carcinoma (colorectal cancer)]
- If necessary, neurological examination [rare complications (especially in infants and young children: Encephalitis (inflammation of the brain); cerebral spasms as a result of the water or electrolyte shifts or hypoglycemia (hypoglycemia)]
- If necessary, urological/nephrological examination [rare complications (especially in infants and young children: prerenal renal failure as an expression of severe dehydration (lack of fluids)][due topossible sequelae:
- Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) – triad of microangiopathic hemolytic anemia (MAHA; form of anemia in which erythrocytes (red blood cells) are destroyed), thrombocytopenia (abnormal decrease in platelets/platelets), and acute kidney injury (AKI); Mostly occurring in children in the context of infections; most common cause of acute renal failure requiring dialysis in childhood.
- Renal failure]
Square brackets [ ] indicate possible pathological (pathological) physical findings.
