Kissing mouth sign

Author: Dr. med. S. Leah Schröder-Bergmann

All authors of this article

Last updated on: 29.10.2020

Dieser Artikel auf Deutsch

History
This section has been translated automatically.

Adolf Kußmaul (1822-1902) was the first to describe the Kußmaul sign, which was also named after him.

Definition
This section has been translated automatically.

A kiss-mouth sign is the paradoxical increase in pressure in the jugular vein during inspiration (Herold 2018).

Occurrence
This section has been translated automatically.

The kissing mouth sign can occur with:

  • acute pericarditis
  • chronic constrictive pericarditis
  • Tricuspid stenosis

(Mansoor 2015)

Etiology
This section has been translated automatically.

The normally reduced inspiratory intrathoracic pressure leads to an increase in venous return flow towards the right heart and, consequently, to a decrease in pressure in the area of the jugular veins. However, as soon as the filling of the right ventricle is impaired, the jugular veins fill instead.

(Mansoor 2015)

Literature
This section has been translated automatically.

  1. Herold G et al (2018) Internal Medicine. Herold Verlag 235, 237
  2. Mansoor A M et al (2015) Kussmaul's Sign. N Engl J Med (372) e3

Authors

Last updated on: 29.10.2020