What term is used to describe the breathing pattern seen in COPD patients in whom the lower costal margins of the chest wall draw inward with each inspiration?
a. Hoover's sign
b. Kussmaul's sign
c. Abdominal paradox sign
d. Respiratory alternans sign
ANS: A
Contraction of a flat diaphragm tends to draw in the lateral costal margins, instead of expanding them (Hoover's sign), and does little to help move air into the thorax.
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