Hamman's sign
Abnormal crunching sound heard from the chest area
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hamman's sign (rarely, Hammond's sign[1] or Hammond's crunch[2]) is a medical sign consisting of a crunching, rasping sound, synchronous with the heartbeat,[3] heard over the precordium in spontaneous mediastinal emphysema. It is thought to result from the heart beating against air-filled tissues.
| Hamman's sign | |
|---|---|
| Differential diagnosis | pneumomediastinum |
It is named after Johns Hopkins clinician Louis Hamman, M.D.[4]
This sound is heard best over the left lateral position.[5] It has been described as a series of precordial crackles that correlate with the heart beat rather than respiration.
Causes
Hamman's crunch is caused by pneumomediastinum or pneumopericardium, and is associated with tracheobronchial injury[6] due to trauma, medical procedures (e.g., bronchoscopy) or rupture of a proximal pulmonary bleb. It can be seen with Boerhaave syndrome.
