Frank's Sign

Frank's sign or Frank sign is a diagonal ear lobe crease (ELC) extending diagonally from the tragus across the lobule to the rear edge of the auricle.

It has been hypothesised that Frank's sign is indicative of cardiovascular disease and/or diabetes. Some studies have described Frank's sign as a marker of cardiovascular disease but not linked to the severity of the condition. In contrast, other studies have rebutted any association between Frank's sign and coronary artery disease.

However, researchers do agree that these creases have no predictive value in Native American Indian and Asian patients.

Some studies have focused upon bilateral ELC.

The sign is named after Dr. Sanders T. Frank.

Read more about Frank's Sign:  Severity, Notable Individuals With Frank's Sign, Links To Images

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