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Adding local short description: "Clinical examination technique", overriding Wikidata description "diagnostic procedure in medicine" |
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{{Short description|Clinical examination technique}}
{{Infobox interventions |
Name = Percussion (medicine) |
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'''Percussion''' is a technique of [[clinical examination]].
'''Percussion''' is a method of tapping on a surface to determine the underlying structures, and is used in [[clinical examination]]s to assess the condition of the [[human thorax|thorax]] or [[abdomen]]. It is one of the four methods of clinical examination, together with [[inspection (medicine)|inspection]], [[palpation]], [[auscultation]], and inquiry. It is done with the [[middle finger]] of one hand tapping on the middle finger of the other hand using a wrist action. The nonstriking finger (known as the [[pleximeter]]) is placed firmly on the body over tissue. When percussing boney areas such as the [[clavicle]], the pleximeter can be omitted and the bone is tapped directly such as when percussing an apical cavitary lung lesion typical of [[tuberculosis]].<ref>Owen Epstein, G. David Perkin, John Cookson, David P. de Bono. ''Pocket Guide to Clinical Examination,'' Third Edition. Mosby, 2004. {{ISBN|0-7234-3230-9}}</ref>▼
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▲===Overview===
There are two types of percussion: direct, which uses only one or two fingers; and indirect, which uses only the middle/flexor finger. Broadly classifying, there are four types of percussion sounds: resonant, hyper-resonant, stony dull or dull. A dull sound indicates the presence of a solid mass under the surface. A more resonant sound indicates hollow, air-containing structures. As well as producing different notes which can be heard they also produce different sensations in the pleximeter finger.
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