A comprehensive clinical examination is the basis for selecting further diagnostic steps:
- General physical examination – including blood pressure, pulse, body weight, height; further:
- Inspection (viewing).
- Skin and mucous membranes [in children: e.g., evidence of dysraphic disorders, such as dimples, lipomas, atypical hairiness, and asymmetric gluteal folds?]
- External genital and anal region [inflammatory changes?]
- Auscultation (listening) of the heart.
- Auscultation of the lungs
- Palpation (palpation) of the abdomen (abdomen), etc.
- Inspection (viewing).
- Neurological examination [due topossible causes or differential diagnoses:
- Apoplexy (stroke)
- Anterior spinal artery syndrome (synonym: spinal anterior syndrome) – neurological disorders caused by circulatory disturbances of the anterior spinal artery.
- Funicular myelosis (synonym: funicular spinal disease) – demyelinating disease (degeneration of the posterior cord, lateral cord, and a polyneuropathy/diseases of the peripheral nervous system affecting multiple nerves) caused by vitamin B12 deficiency; symptomatology: motor and sensory deficits that may worsen to paraplegia; encephalopathy (pathological conditions of the brain) of varying degrees.
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Parkinson’s disease (shaking palsy)
- Multiple sclerosis (MS) (neurological disease that can cause paralysis and spasticity).
- Myelitis (inflammation of the spinal cord), unspecified.
- Syringomyelia (neurological disorder that usually begins in middle age and results in cavities in the gray matter of the spinal cord).
- Cerebral sclerosis (arteriosclerotic changes in the cerebral vessels)]
- Urological examination [due topossible secondary diseases:
- Urinary tract infections (UTI).
- Renal dysfunction
- Pyelonephritis (inflammation of the renal pelvis)
- Urolithiasis (urinary stone disease)
- Vesiculorenal reflux (reflux of urine from the urinary bladder to the kidney)]
- Health check
Square brackets [ ] indicate possible pathological (pathological) physical findings.
