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; furthermore:
- Inspection (viewing).
- Skin and mucous membranes
- Lymph node stations in the neck including palpation [lymphadenopathy (lymph node enlargement)?]
- Thyroid gland incl. Palpation (palpation) [thyroid carcinoma (thyroid cancer)]
- Auscultation (listening) of the heart.
- Inspection (viewing).
- If necessary, ENT medical examination – inspection of the throat, laryngoscopy (laryngoscopy), etc. [due todifferential diagnoses:
- Acute laryngitis (inflammation of the larynx).
- Chronic hyperplastic/atrophic laryngitis – form of chronic laryngitis.
- Epiglottitis (inflammation of the epiglottis).
- Laryngeal granuloma – benign neoplasm of the larynx.
- Laryngocele – expanded blind sac located in the larynx.
- Laryngeal abscess – encapsulated collection of pus on the larynx.
- Laryngeal carcinoma (cancer of the larynx)
- Mediastinal tumors, unspecified.
- Neoplasms in the neck region such as tongue base and tonsil tumors.
- Peritonsillar abscess – encapsulated collection of pus in the area around the palatine tonsil.
- Pharyngitis (pharyngitis)
- Reinke’s edema – edema of the vocal fold margin in the so-called Reinke’s space, a slit-shaped space between the epithelium and the underlying connective tissue.
- Recurrent paresis (vocal cord paralysis).
- Vocal fold nodule]
- Neurological examination if necessary [due todifferential diagnosis:
- Myasthenia gravis – rare neurological disorder with rapid-onset fatigability]
- Health check
Square brackets [ ] indicate possible pathological (pathological) physical findings.
