In medicine, a case report is a detailed report of the symptoms, signs, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of an individual patient. Case reports may contain a demographic profile of the patient, but usually describe an unusual or novel occurrence.
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Most case reports are on one of six topics[1]:
A case report is a type of anecdotal evidence. As such, it is less scientifically rigorous than controlled clinical data involving a larger sample size. Proponents argue that case reports have value within scientific method:
Whereas randomized clinical trials are usually only inspect one variable or very few variables, rarely reflecting the full picture of a complicated medical situation, the case report can detail many different aspects of the patient’s medical situation (e.g. patient history, physical examination, diagnosis, psychosocial aspects, follow up).[2]
Other advantages of case reports are being published quickly in comparison to randomized control trials, making them to be a kind of rapid short communication between clinicians, and being authored by busy clinicians who probably do not have the time or money to conduct large scale research.[2]
Many international journals will publish case reports, but they restrict the number that appear in the print run because this has an adverse effect on the journal Impact Factor. Case reports are often put in the internet part of the journal and there is often still a requirement for a subscription to access them. However there are a few that are devoted to publishing case reports alone, and these are all Open Access. The first of these to start publishing, in 2001, is Grand Rounds. Other similar journals include Case Reports in Medicine, Journal of Medical Case Reports, and Cases Journal; all of them publish peer reviewed case reports in all areas of medicine. Cases Journal recently merged with the Journal of Medical Case Reports but still maintains an independent internet portal. BMJ Case Reports is an online, peer-reviewed journal publishing cases in all disciplines. Radiology Case Reports and the Journal of Radiology Case Reports are open-access peer-reviewed journals focusing on medical imaging. Journal Of Surgical Case Reports is an open access peer reviewed journal that considers case reports in the field of surgery. Journal of Orthopaedic Case Reports is a new open access, peer reviewed journal that publishes Orthopaedic case reports.
There are a number of websites that allow patients to submit and share their own case reports with other people. Patients Like Me and Treatment Report are two such sites.
The term is also used to describe non-scientific reports usually prepared for their educational value.
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