66 - Spurling's test (Foraminal Compression test)

Spurling's test, or foraminal compression test, is a very specific, but not sensitive physical examination maneuver in diagnosing acute cervical (neck)radiculopathy.
Patients with a cervical radiculopathy (compression of a nerve ‘root’ in the neck) can present with a variety of symptoms, including pain, numbness and weakness. Many other disorders can produce similar symptoms. In addition to the clinical history, the neurological examination may show signs suggesting a cervical radiculopathy.
One such sign, ‘Spurling’s test’ is the reproduction of the patient's nerve symptoms by movements of the neck. It is performed by extending the neck, rotating the head, and then applying downward pressure on the head. The test is considered positive if pain radiates into the limb ipsilateral to the side that the head is rotated to.

eponyms in medicine - part 20

191 - Oliver’s sign is in aortic aneurysm - pulsation of aorta felt through cricoid cartilage when chin is elevated.

192 - Brodie’s abscess is small - intraosseus abscess that frequently involves the cortex and is walled off by reactive bone.

193 - Spurling’s test is for diagnosing cervical radiculopathy - exerting downward pressure on the head while rotating the head towards the symptomatic side creating pain radiating into affected extremity.

194 - Parkland formula is total body surface area % burned x kg x 4; 1/2 in first 8 hours - second 1/2 given next 16 hours.

195 - farmer’s lung is hypersensitivity pneumonitis from exposure to antigens of microorganisms which colonize equipment used in farming - including from moldy hay - grain - silage ( e.g. thermophilic actinomycetes - fungus such as Aspergillus umbrosus).

196 - Drummond - marginal artery of is vessel which lies along mesenteric border of colon and supplies vasa recta; arises from right and left branches of middle colic artery and left and right colic arteries; also supplies collateral connection between superior and inferior mesenteric arteries.

197 - Heimlich maneuver is abdominal thrust maneuver for clearing airway (blocked by foreign object - e.g. food) described in 1974 by Henry Heimlich.

198 - Möbius’s sign is in Graves’s ophthalmopathy - failure of ocular convergence following close accommodation at a distance of 5 inches.

199 - Cheyne-Stokes breathing is regularly irregular pattern characterized by a progressive increase in the depth and at times frequency of respiration with a crescendo-decrescendo shape that eventually culminates in an apneic phase; seen in CHF but also in meningitis - CVA - pontine damage.

200 - Sly’s syndrome is mucopolysaccharidosis (VII) - from beta-glucoronidase deficiency - resulting in hepatosplenomegaly - physical deformity from defect in degradation of dermatan sulfate and heparan sulfate.