Pathognomonic is a term, often used in medicine that means characteristic for a particular disease - the word
pathognomonic comes from the Greek “pathognomonikos” meaning “skilled in judging diseases”
Pathognomonic Signs are particular sign whose presence means that a particular disease is present beyond any doubt
Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm - Pulsating abdominal mass
Abruption Placenta - Painful bleeding, board-like abdomen
Acute Myeloid Leukemia - Auer rod
Acute Renal Failure - Azotemia, uremic frost on skin
Acromegaly – macroglossia/coarse facial features
Addison's disease - Bronze-like skin pigmentation
Amoebiasis - Mucoid, foul explosive blood tinged stool
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis – Bilateral babinski reflex
Angina pectoris - Levine's sign (hand clutching of chest)
Appendicitis - Rebound tenderness (McBurney’s point) Rovsing Sign (Right Left Quadrant pain with palpation in Left lower
quadrant)
Arthritis - Buotonniere deformity, swan neck deformity, ulnar drift, Bouchard’s nodes
Ascariasis - Vomiting, passing out of worms
Asthma - Wheezing on expirations
Atrial Septal Defect - Murmur heard high on chest
Autism - Rocking, spinning, routines
Bacterial Vaginosis - Grayish, white discharge, malodorous
Basilar Fracture - Raccoon’s eye
Breech Birth - Meconium staining
Buerger’s Disease (Thromboangitis Obliterans) - Intermittent claudication
Bulimia Nervosa - Chipmunk facies (parotid gland swelling)
Candidiasis - Cheeselike discharge
Carbon monoxide poisoning - Cherry pink flushed face, carbon in the secretions, non productive cough
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome - Jack Hammer Syndrome (Tinel’s sign)
Cataract - Blurry vision/hazy vision, cloudy vision, loss of central vision
Celiac Disease - Gluten sensitivity, watery, pale foul-smelling stool
Chicken Pox - Vesiculopapular rash
Cholecystitis - Murphy's sign (pain on deep inspiration when inflamed gallbladder is palpated)
Cholera - Rice-watery stoolWasher’s woman hands
Chronic hemorrhagic pancreatitis - Grey-Turner's sign (ecchymosis in flank area)
Congenital hip dislocation – extra gluteal fold
Croup – inspiratory stridor
Cushing’s Syndrome - Moon faceBuffalo Hump
CVA - Homonymous Hemianopsia
Cystic Fibrosis – meconium ileus
Cystitis – burning on urination
Cystocele and Rectocele - Feeling of fullness at vagina
Cytomegalovirus infection - Owl’s eye appearance of inclusion bodies
Dengue - Herman’s sign
Detached Retina - Flashes of light, shadow with curtain across the vision
Development dysplasia of the hip - Trendelenburg sign
Diabetes Ketoacidosis - Acetone breath
Diabetes Mellitus - 3P’s (polydipsia, polyphagia, polyuria)
Diphtheria - Pseudomembrane on tonsils, pharynx and nasal cavity
Down Syndrome - Protruding tongue, saddle nose, brushfield’s spots, single crease on palm
Duchenne's Muscular Dystrophy - Gowers' sign
Emphysema - Barrel chest
Encephalitis - Decorticate and decerebate rigidity
Enterobiasis - Nocturnal itchiness
Failure to Thrive (FTT) - Radar gaze
Flail chest – paradoxical chest
movement
GERD - Barret esophagus, heartburn
German Measles – Forscheimer’s
spots
Glaucoma - Tunnel vision/loss of
peripheral vision
Gonorrhea - Burning sensation upon urination/thick purulent discharge
Gouty Arthritis - Formation of tophi at the earlobe usually the big toe
Guillain-Barre - Ascending paralysis
Hemophilia - Hemarthoses
Henoch-Schönlein purpura - A tetrade of rash, arthralgia, abdominal pain and kidney disease in a child
Hepatic Encephalopathy - Asterixis
Hepatitis – Jaundice/Icteric sclera
Herpes Zoster - Regional painful rash
Hirschprung’s disease (Megacolon) - Ribbon-like, foul smelling stool
H-mole - Grapelike growth, large abdomen
Hodgkin’s Lymphoma - Hodgkin and Reed-Sternburg cells (giant mono- and multinucleated cells)
Hydrocephalus – bossing sign (prominent forehead)/setting sun eyes
Hyperthyroidism/Grave’s disease - Exophthalmos
Hyperpituitarism – Carotenemia ( discoloration of
skin)/Xanthemia
Hypocalcemia - Trousseau sign and Chvostek sign
Increased ICp – Cushing’s Triad ( Hypertension,
bradypnea and bradycardia)
Increased IOP - Doll’s eye
Intestinal Obstruction - No passage of meconium
Intussusceptions - Sausage shaped mass, dance sign, currant jelly-like stool
Irritable Bowel Syndrome - Typical triad: abdominal pain with tenderness on palpation, altered bowel habits, absence of
detectable disease
Kawasaki Disease - Strawberry tongue
Kleibsiella Pneumonia - Red gelatinous sputum
Klinefelter’s Syndrome - XXY in males
Leprosy - Leonine facies (thickened lion-like facial skin)Nerve involvement with acid fast bacilli
Leptospirosis - Orange eyes
Liver cirrhosis - Spider angioma
due to esophageal varices
Lyme’s disease - Bull eye’s rash
Malaria - Cycle of hot stage (high fever) followed by diaphoretic stage (sweating) and then cold stage (chilling)
(stepladder like fevers and chills)
Measles - Koplik's spots
Meniere’s disease – Vertigo and Tinnitus
Meningitis - Kernig's sign leg pain and
Brudzinski's sign neck pain
Meningococcemia - Purple petechiae
Monillasis - White “cheesy” discharge
Multiple Sclerosis - Descending weakness, Charcot’s sign (intention tremor, nystagmus, scanning speech)
Mumps - Swollen parotid gland
Myasthenia Gravis (MG) - Ptosis (inability to open upper eyelids), nasal
smile/descending muscle weakness
Myocardial Infarction - Levine’s sign
Neurofibromatosis - Plexiform neurofibroma
Oral Thrush - White patches on tongue
Osteoarthirtis – Heberden’s node and
Buckard’s node
Osteoporosis – Kyphosis (Dowager’s hump)
Pancreatitis - Cullen's sign (bluish discoloration of umbilicus)
Parkinson’s disease - Pill-rolling tremors
Patent ductus arteriosus - Machine-like murmur
Pericarditis - Pericardial friction rub
Peritonitis – rigid, board like abdomen
Pernicious anemia - Red beefy tongue
Pertusis - Paroxysmal cough ending with a whoop
Pertusis -Violent cough without intervening inhalation followed by an inspiratory whoop
Phemphigus Vulgaris - Nikolsky sign
Phenylketonuria - Blue eyes
Placenta previa - Painless bright red bleeding
Pleural effusion - Stony dull percussion
Pneumonia - Rusty colored sputum
Poliomyelitis - Poker’s sign, Haynes sign
Pott’s Disease – gibbus formation
Pulmonary Tuberculosis – hemoptysis
Pulmonary edema – pink frothy sputum
Pregnancy induced hpn – protenuria,
hypertension, edema
Pyloric Stenosis – Olive shaped mass on the
abdomen/projectile vomiting
Rabies - Hydrophobia/photophobia
Retinal Detachment – curtain veil-like vision/
flashes and floaters
Retinoblastoma - Cat’s eye reflex
Rheumatic fever - Aschoff nodules
Rheumatoid Arthitis – swan neck deformity
Rock Mountain Spotted Fever - Rose colored macules
Scabies - Weeping itch
Scarlet fever - Raspberry tongue
Scoliosis – uneven shoulders/positive Adam’s forward bend test
Sickle cell anemia - Painful episodes or vaso-occlusive crisis
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus - Butterfly rash
Tetanus - Risus sardonicus, lockjaw
Tetralogy of Fallot – clubbing of fingers/squatting on cyanotic episodes
Thrombophlebitis – Homan’s sign
Tracheoesophageal fistula - 3c’s= coughing, choking, cyanosis
Trichominiasis - Malodorous, thin yellow discharge
Turner’s Syndrome - Karyotype in females, webbed neck, gonadal dysgenesis
Typhoid fever - Rose spots in abdomen
Ulcerative colitis – recurrent bloody diarrhea
Whipple’s disease - Oculo-masticatory myorhythmia
