Medicine:Romana's sign

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Romana's sign
Differential diagnosisChagas' disease

Romaña's sign is a medical term for the unilateral painless periorbital swelling associated with the acute stage of Chagas' disease. Not to be confused with a chagoma.

Presentation

It occurs 1-2 weeks after infection. It is due to conjunctival swelling after contamination with the vector's feces, which contains the parasitic Trypanosoma cruzi. Although very characteristic of Chagas' disease, not all patients with the acute form develop Romaña's sign.

When one has Romaña's sign, one will have subcutaneous inflammatory nodule or nonpurulent unilateral palpebral edema and conjunctivitis with ipsilateral regional lymphadenopathy.

Eponym

It is named after Cecilio Romaña, an Argentinian researcher who first described the phenomenon.[1][2]

References

  1. synd/3325 at Who Named It?
  2. C. Romaña. Acerca de un síntoma inicial de valor para el diagnóstico de la forma aguda de la enfermedad de Chagas. La conjuntivitis schizotripanosómica unilateral (hipótesis sobre la puerta de entrada conjuntival de la enfermedad) Mision de Estudios de Patologia Regional Argentina (MEPRA), 1935, (22): 16-25.