Grey-Turner's sign
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
Grey-Turner's sign refers to bruising of the flanks.
This sign takes 24-48 hours to appear and predicts a severe attack of acute pancreatitis, with mortality rising from 8-10% to 40%.
It may be accompanied by Cullen's sign.
George Grey Turner was a British surgeon.
Differential Diagnosis
Causes include:
- retroperitoneal bleeding or a retroperitoneal hematoma
- acute pancreatitis, whereby methemalbumin formed from digested blood tracks subcutaneously around the abdomen from the inflamed pancreas
- blunt abdominal trauma
- ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm.
- Ruptured/ hemorrhagic ectopic pregnancy.
- spontaneous bleeding secondary to coagulopathy (congenital or acquired)
