Hyperventilation: Examination

A comprehensive clinical examination is the basis for selecting further diagnostic steps

• General physical examination – including blood pressure, pulse, body weight,height; furthermore:
  • Inspection (viewing)of the skin and mucous membranes.
  • Auscultation(listening) of the heart [due todifferential diagnosis: coronary heart disease (CHD)].
  • Auscultation of the lungs [due todifferential diagnosis: bronchial asthma]
• The following signs may indicate tetany:
  • Chvostek’s sign – after tapping the facial nerve trunk (1-2 cm in front of the earlobe/jaw joint), there is a subsequent contraction of the facial muscles
  • Erb sign – increased galvanic excitability of the motor nerves.
  • Fibularis sign – tapping of the superficial fibular nerve behind the fibular head results in brief foot pronation (foot elevation and inward rotation of the foot)
  • Schulze tongue phenomenon – tapping the tongue results in dimpling/bulging.
  • Trousseau sign – pawing that occurs by compressing the upper arm (e.g., after inflating a blood pressure cuff beyond systolic blood pressure).

Square brackets [ ] indicate possible pathological (pathological) physical findings.