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Case report


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. Some case reports also contain a literature review of other reported cases.

Most case reports are on one of six topics:

A case report is generally considered a type of anecdotal evidence. Given their intrinsic methodological limitations, including lack of statistical sampling, case reports are placed at the foot of the hierarchy of clinical evidence, together with case series. Nevertheless, case reports do have genuinely useful roles in medical research and evidence-based medicine. In particular, they have facilitated recognition of new diseases and adverse effects of treatments. (For example, recognition of the link between administration of thalidomide to mothers and malformations in their babies was triggered by the report of a particular case.) Case reports have a role in pharmacovigilance. They can also help understand the clinical spectrum of rare diseases, as well as unusual presentations of common diseases. They can help generate study hypotheses, including plausible mechanisms of disease. Case reports may also have a role to play in guiding the personalization of treatments in clinical practice.


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