The Detection of Splenomegaly by Percussion

IN an age when ever more refined laboratory tests are the keynote, it may seem anachronistic to describe again a simple method in bedside diagnosis. Since evaluation of splenomegaly still rests for the most part on physical examination however, it is believed that a technic often heretofore neglected in classic teaching should merit consideration.Percussion as an aid in determining the presence of an enlarged spleen is mentioned only in passing in all the modern standard works on physical diagnosis. The consensus has been that the method is of little value because of interfering tympany resulting from contiguous structures — . . .