Head and Neck Clinical Signs Associated With Diseases: A Scoping Review

Clinical signs observed during head and neck examination offer important diagnostic clues. This scoping review aimed to identify key clinical signs in this region associated with diseases and syndromes and to map them according to their location.

An electronic literature search was performed in five databases (Embase, LILACS, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science) and in grey literature (Google Scholar and ProQuest). Studies were excluded if they did not involve humans, addressed non-specific or non-head and neck signs, used auxiliary equipment during examination, were conducted outside clinical settings, lacked original data, or had no accessible full text. Clinical signs were categorized as ocular, cutaneous, intraoral, auricular, or other.

Overall, 54 studies met the criteria, identifying 43 distinct clinical signs. Intraoral signs were the most frequent (n = 15), with "strawberry tongue" being the most common. Cutaneous signs (10) included café-au-lait lesions, facial trichilemmomas, and Pemberton's sign. Ocular manifestations appeared in nine cases, with Horner's syndrome being the most reported. Other signs accounted for six reports, and auricular signs (three) were the least frequent, with Frank's sign most cited.

This review underscores the diagnostic relevance of head and neck clinical signs as indicators of systemic diseases, including intraoral ulcers, café-au-lait macules, Kayser-Fleischer rings, Frank's sign, malar rash, and port-wine stains.