Objectives The association between diagonal ear lobe crease (DELC) and cardiovascular disease was first suggested in 1973 although some studies have attributed this to confounding cardiovascular factors. This review looked to see if there is a significant association between DELC and angiography-confirmed coronary artery disease (CAD) independent of other risk factors. Design Systematic review and meta-analysis of selected studies using the PRISMA checklist. Setting 12 different hospitals with angiography in eight countries. Participants 4960 adult patients undergoing coronary angiography. Main Outcome Measures • Presence/absence of diagonal ear lobe crease • Diagnostic Odds Ratio • Sensitivity/Specificity Results 12 studies were included in the meta-analysis. Findings from our study suggest: • Patients with DELC have a 4x increased likelihood of having CAD (OR 4.61 P<0.00001). • The relationship between DELC and CAD was independent of age and all other conventional cardiovascular risk factors. • Bilateral DELC has a stronger association with CAD than unilateral DELC. • Presence of DELC has insufficient sensitivity / specificity to be used as a diagnostic test for cardiovascular disease but instead should be used as a risk marker. Conclusions We found that DELC is associated with CAD independently of other known cardiovascular risk factors including age. Histology studies indicate that atherosclerosis is causing DELC and patients with DELC appear to have an increased risk of CAD. It has insufficient sensitivity or specificity to be used as a diagnostic test but should be used as a valuable risk marker to be aware of whilst examining ears.

A 34-year-old woman with a history of congenital hypothyroidism and 15 years of obstructive sleep apnoea was admitted with a left submandibular swelling secondary to a dental infection. A CT scan of the neck identified an incidental 27 mm tongue base mass and the absence of any cervical thyroid tissue. This mass was not observable on examination of the oropharynx but was seen on fine nasendoscopy while thyroid function tests showed good thyroid stimulating hormone suppression. Her acute dental infection was treated and, following multidisciplinary team discussion, she was diagnosed with an ectopic lingual thyroid. She was offered different management options including no intervention and radio-iodide treatment but opted for transoral robotic resection. The lesion was resected en bloc with clear margins and histology confirmed lingual thyroid tissue. Since the procedure, she has remained free of sleep apnoea with a significantly improved quality of life.

Introduction An association between a diagonal ear lobe crease (DELC) and cardiovascular disease, was first suggested by Sanders T. Frank in 1973(1). Since then, there have been numerous further studies that have investigated the association of ‘Frank’s Sign’ with carotid disease, cerebral vascular disease, and diabetic retinopathy. This review looks to see if there is a significant association between the presence of a DELC and coronary artery disease (CAD). Method Meta-analysis of selected studies, published between 1974 and 2017, using the PRISMA checklist(2). Results We included 12 studies in the pooled analysis, which included 2415 cases and 2545 controls. Our study found that patients with DELC, have an increased likelihood of having CAD (OR 4.61). Also, despite some previous studies suggesting that DELC was simply a result of age, all ten of the included studies that looked at this found that the relationship between DELC and CAD was independent of both age and other known cardiovascular risk factors. Conclusions We found that DELC is associated with CAD independently of other known cardiovascular risk factors, including age. Patients with DELC appear to have a substantially increased risk of CAD, and this may be higher for patients with bilateral DELC.

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