Hegar's Sign (Early Sign of Pregnancy) (Hegar S Sign)

Hegar's sign (Early Sign of Pregnancy)

Hegar's Sign is a sign that indicates pregnancy in a woman between 6 and 12 weeks. Before the advent of modern pregnancy tests, which made it possible to determine pregnancy by urine analysis, this symptom was used to diagnose pregnancy.

The sign is as follows: if you insert the fingers of one hand into the vagina, and with the other hand you feel the lower part of the abdomen above the womb, then the lower edge of the uterus will be much softer to the touch than the body of the uterus, located above, and the cervix, located below.

This is due to the fact that during pregnancy the lower segment of the uterus softens and becomes more elastic in order to further stretch during the passage of the fetus. Thus, by the contrast between the soft lower edge of the uterus and the dense body above, pregnancy could be suspected even before other obvious signs appeared.

Hegar's sign (Early Sign of Pregnancy)

Hegar's symptom is a sign indicating that a woman is pregnant. It appears between the 6th and 12th weeks of pregnancy. Previously (before modern tests became available that could determine the presence of pregnancy by the composition of urine), this criterion was used to determine whether a woman was pregnant.

If the fingers of one hand are inserted into the vagina, and the fingers of the other hand are placed above the pelvic cavity, then the lower edge of the uterus will be much softer to the touch than the rest of the body of the uterus, which is located above, and the cervix, which is located below.

Hegard's sign (formerly known as Hegar's S-sign) is a sign of pregnancy and appears between the sixth and twelfth week after conception. Although this test is rarely used today due to the availability of modern diagnostic methods, it can be useful for those interested in the history of medicine and want to understand what methods were used to diagnose pregnancy in the past.

Hegars' sign occurs during manual vaginal palpation of the patient's abdomen, when the fingertips of one hand are inserted into the patient's vagina to a depth of 2.5 cm, and the fingertips of the other hand are placed on the apex of the uterus, approximately 7.5-15 cm above the pubic bone. In this position, the uterus is under the arms, and the pelvis remains free. With the patient lying on his back, the doctor's two hands are positioned so that the fingertips enter the vagina and palpate the upper edge of the meniscus. The uterus, which by that time has already begun to secrete the hCG hormone (a hormone necessary for the normal course of pregnancy), is significantly amenable to changes in muscle tone and has high elasticity.