![]() Some scientist classifies case reports as a qualitative study design, others might consider it a quantitative approach or even a mixed method design. The case report might be in the tail of the hierarchy of evidence-based medicine but if properly selected and appropriately reported it might stand a better chance of publication in high impact journals than even a clinical trial. All those previous examples show how important is case report in the advancement of medical practice. Furthermore, in 2012, Ali Zaki reported an article in New England Journal of Medicine titled “Isolation of a novel coronavirus from a man with pneumonia in Saudi Arabia” which ultimately, lead to the discovery of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus. And in 1981, a case report was published in the literature as “Preliminary communication on extensively disseminated Kaposi sarcoma in a young homosexual man” few years later, HIV from this case report was discovered. ![]() Just to name a few, in 1819, James Parkinson published a case report entitled “An essay on the shaking palsy” and lead to the discovery of Parkinson's disease. Despite that, case report provides the medical community with information which cannot be picked up by any other designs. This approach might generate an idea or hypothesis, but it will not be confirmed unless we conduct further confirmatory quantitative experimental or observational study designs such as clinical trials or cohort studies. Although case reports are considered the lowest in the hierarchy of evidence-based practice in the medical literature, it provides essential information for unfamiliar events and shared individual experiences, for better understanding and optimizing patient care. The case report is a research design where an unexpected or novel occurrence is described in a detailed report of findings, clinical course, and prognosis of an individual patient, which might be, but not mandatory, accompanied by a review of the literature of other reported cases. ![]() Case reports have now been developed and accepted as a scholarly publication to disseminate knowledge to a wide medical audience. Those case histories were not a publication but rather a documentation or a message between the medical professionals, and it is usually kept in their records. Muslim scholars have reported case histories as well, particularly, Abu Bakr Mohamed Ibn Zakariya Al-Razi (865–929 AD), where he left a large collection of case reports in his 25-volume medical encyclopedia “Kitab Al-Hawi.” From Hippocratic case histories, “Epidemics” 400 BC, through Galenic case reports, in the second century AD, case reports were usually used to tell other doctors or colleagues about interesting cases they have encountered. The oldest example of a preserved clinical case in medical literature is a text from an ancient Egyptian papyrus dating from the 16 th to the 17 th dynasty, 1600 BC, addressing the management of dislocated jawbone. The clinical case report has been an integral part of medical literature throughout history. A case report that is worth reading should, therefore, contain both practical and educational messages. ![]() The purpose of the case report is to expand our knowledge on clinical manifestation, diagnostic approach, or therapeutic alternative of a disease, ultimately, to improve the quality of care provided to our patients. A case report is the first effort for many doctors, and other health professionals to convey a message to the entire medical profession by the means of specialized journal and remain essential to the art of medicine. This learning experience, based on the observation of clinical cases, can be transferred to others, locally, nationally, and internationally, through communication and reporting. “The best teaching of medicine is that taught by the patient himself” is a famous statement by William Osler which describes the opportunities we have as physicians to learn from our encounters with patients.
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