asterixis
asterixis — noun
1. A medical sign in which a person's hands suddenly drop and flap when held out st
A medical sign in which a person's hands suddenly drop and flap when held out straight, usually because the brain has been affected by a liver or kidney problem.
The doctor asked Rohan to stretch out his arms, and his hands showed clear asterixis.
show + asterixis as a clinical sign on examination
When Dahlia's liver began to fail, asterixis appeared in both of her hands.
asterixis appeared in + body part
Nurses watched for asterixis by asking Pim to hold both hands up steadily.
The medical student learned that asterixis looks like a slow, flapping wave of the wrists.
After Christopher drank too much for years, his doctor spotted asterixis during a checkup.
- flapping tremor
the plain-English name for the same sign; used when explaining it to patients rather than in formal notes
- liver flap
an informal label; narrower, because it points specifically to liver failure as the cause
- negative myoclonus
the technical term for the brief loss of muscle tone behind the flap; more general, naming the mechanism
文法句型
show / have / develop + asterixis
asterixis + is present / absent
用法筆記
Uncountable and almost always used without an article: doctors write 'the patient has asterixis', never 'an asterixis'. It most often appears as the object of 'show', 'have', or 'develop', or as the subject of 'be present / absent'. Belongs to clinical writing; in everyday speech the plain name 'flapping tremor' is used instead.