Clinical anatomy and the physical examination part I: thorax, abdomen, perineum, and pelvis.

This paper by the Educational Affairs Committee of the American Association of Clinical Anatomists (AACA) is a sequel to one published earlier, "A Clinical Anatomy Curriculum for the Medical Student of the 21st Century: Gross Anatomy" (AACA. 1996, Clin Anat. 9:71-99). In that curricular document a number of clinical procedures that apply gross anatomy to current medical practice are cited, including procedures related to the physical examination. This paper describes numerous anatomically based procedures that are performed during a physical examination to demonstrate that (1) gross anatomy forms a fundamental basis for physical diagnosis and (2) such an anatomic basis is delineated in our previously published curricular document. The AACA Educational Affairs Committee also hopes that the examples presented here will serve as a starting point for incorporating elements of the physical examination within a clinical anatomy curriculum in gross anatomy at the medical school level. This paper focuses on the physical examination of the thorax, abdomen, perineum, and pelvis; a subsequent paper will treat the physical examination of the limbs, back, head, and neck. Copyright 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.