Boas' sign

{{distinguish | text=Psoas sign}}

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|differential = Acute cholecystitis, Stomach disease

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Boas' or Boas's sign is hyperaesthesia (increased or altered sensitivity) below the right Hypochondrium or 12th rib region, which can be a symptom in acute cholecystitis (inflammation of the gallbladder).{{cite web | title = Boas' sign | publisher = GPnotebook | url = http://www.gpnotebook.co.uk/simplepage.cfm?ID=-1811546110 | format = web | access-date = 2007-01-21 | archive-date = 2007-02-07 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070207032943/http://www.gpnotebook.co.uk/simplepage.cfm?ID=-1811546110 | url-status = dead }} It is one of many signs a medical provider may look for during an abdominal examination.{{cite web

| last = Hewish

| first = Dr Paul

| title = Abdominal Examination

| publisher = Patient Plus

| url = http://www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/40024881

| format = web

| access-date = 2007-01-21 }}

Originally this sign referred to point tenderness in the region to the right of the 10th to 12th thoracic vertebrae.{{cite journal|last1=Trowbridge|first1=RL|last2=Rutkowski|first2=NK|last3=Shojania|first3=KG|title=Does this patient have acute cholecystitis?|journal=JAMA|date=1 January 2003|volume=289|issue=1|pages=80–6|doi=10.1001/jama.289.1.80|pmid=12503981|s2cid=19833876|url=https://www.med.unc.edu/medselect/files/cholecystitis.pdf|access-date=16 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304024813/https://www.med.unc.edu/medselect/files/cholecystitis.pdf|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead}} It is less than 7% sensitive.{{cite web|url=http://www.bcm.edu/gastro/DDC/grandrounds/UT/9-14-06/09-DISC.HTM |title=Gastroenterology Grand Rounds |access-date=2011-09-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401061226/http://www.bcm.edu/gastro/DDC/grandrounds/UT/9-14-06/09-DISC.HTM |archive-date=2012-04-01 }}Gunn A, Keddie N. Some clinical observations on patients with gallstones. Lancet 1972;2:230-241

Its namesake is Ismar Isidor Boas (1858–1938), a German physician and the first licensed GI specialist in his country.{{cite web

| title = Ismar Isidor Boas

| publisher = Whonamedit.com

| url = http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/2656.html

| format = web

| access-date = 2011-01-09 }}

Boas' sign can also indicate stomach and duodenal disease. When the transverse processes of thoracic vertebrae T10-T12 are pressed or effleuraged with the bottom of the hand, pain can appear at the left of spinous processes (in stomach's lesser curvature ulcer) or at the right (in pyloric or duodenal ulcer).{{cite book|author=Gupta|title=Textbook of Surgery|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eXZznFybjEwC&pg=PA767|date=1 January 2003|publisher=Jaypee Brothers Publishers|isbn=978-81-7179-965-7|pages=767}}