Frank's sign is a diagonal crease in the ear lobe extending from the tragus across the lobule to the rear edge of the auricle.[1] The sign is named after Sanders T. Frank.[1]
It has been hypothesised that Frank's sign is indicative of cardiovascular disease[2][3] and/or diabetes.[4] Some studies have described Frank's sign as a marker of cardiovascular disease but not linked to the severity of the condition.[5] In contrast, other studies have rebutted any association between Frank's sign and coronary artery disease in diabetics.[6] There have also been reported cases of Frank's sign being a predictor of cerebral infarctions.[7] A link between Frank's sign and premature aging and the loss of dermal and vascular fibers has also been hypothesized.[8] Some studies have focused on association between bilateral earlobe crease and coronary artery disease.[9] It is probably prudent to consider Frank's Sign alongside other clinical markers of physiological ageing, rather than utilising it as a stand along sign in the identification of coronary artery disease[10].
Severity
- Grade 3 – A deep crease across the whole of the earlobe.
- Grade 2b – Creased more than halfway across the earlobe.
- Grade 2a – A superficial crease across the earlobe.
- Grade 1 – A small amount of wrinkling on the earlobe.[11]
Notable individuals with Franks' sign
- Dick Van Dyke[12]
- George W. Bush[13]
- Mel Gibson[14]
- Steven Spielberg[13]
- Philip Paul Burnell[15]
| This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Metasyntactic variable, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. |