Mishal Shanabout 2 years ago

Chvostek's Sign and Trousseau's Sign demonstrated

Chvostek's sign is the twitching of the facial muscles in response to tapping over the area of the facial nerve. Trousseau's sign is caused by carpopedal spasm as a result of inflating the blood-pressure cuff to a level above systolic pressure for 3 minutes. Both these signs are pathognomic for hypocalcemia. Low calcium levels lead to increased nerve excitability and thus, muscle spasms result. A common cause of hypocalcemia is hypoparathyroidism which often occurs due to iatrogenic removal of parathyroid glands during thyroidectomy. Autoimmune causes are also implicated.