Wartenberg sign

The Wartenberg sign (after Robert Wartenberg ) is a way of determining an injury to the spinal cord , especially the pyramidal tract . The doctor and the patient hook the fingers of one hand together like a claw. Then both pull tight. If the patient's thumb moves towards the hand (so-called adduction ) and simultaneous flexion of the thumb ( flexion ), this indicates damage to the pyramidal tract.

There is a characteristic that is also known as the Wartenberg sign to test for facial paralysis that has already regressed or is just beginning . The examiner places his fingertips on the patient's closed eyelids and tries to open the eyelids against his resistance. He will feel a slight vibration of the orbicularis oculi muscle on the healthy upper eyelid , which will not occur in the affected eye.

literature

• Jürgen Heisel: Neurological differential diagnosis. Thieme, Stuttgart et al. 2007, ISBN 978-3-13-140861-7 , p. 52.
• Rudolf Sachsenweger : Neuroophthalmology. 3rd, revised edition. Thieme, Stuttgart et al. 1982, ISBN 3-13-531003-5 , p. 360.