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[Demarcation of diseases]
R N Braun1, R Braun, F Alkoutani
1Arbeitsgemeinschaft zur Erforschung der Allgemeinpraxis, Wien.
Insights
Diseases do not overlap, but can present similarly. Doctors must avoid hasty diagnoses, considering atypical presentations of different diseases.
Area of Science:
- Medical epistemology
- Clinical diagnostics
Context:
- Critically examines the concept of disease overlap.
- Highlights the distinct separation of medical specialties and diseases.
Purpose:
- To refute the notion of overlapping diseases.
- To clarify the distinct criteria for differentiating diseases.
Summary:
- Diseases, like medical specialties, are distinct entities.
- Separation is based on unique symptomology, clinical signs, and diagnostic outcomes.
- Similar presentations do not equate to disease overlap.
Impact:
- Emphasizes the importance of thorough diagnostic processes.
- Warns against premature diagnoses based on typical symptoms alone.
- Underscores the need to consider atypical disease manifestations.
Abstract:
Feinstein's opinion that diseases overlap does not stand up to professional criticism. Different diseases can certainly present very similarly, but they cannot overlap, in the same way as specialties cannot overlap. The specialties are separated from each other according to their different connections with the diseases. Diseases are separated from each other by their relations to the symptoms and clinical signs on the one hand and the results of medical consultation on the other hand. These considerations emphasize the fact that doctors should not make a diagnosis too hastily if a typical symptomatology is present. That, however, has nothing to do with overlapping of diseases, but with the temptation in the presence of a typical clinical picture to jump to a diagnosis without first having scrupulously clarified the possibility that the classical symptomatology was not, in fact, really due to the atypical manifestations of a totally different disease.