Pathognomonic
Pathognomonic (rare synonym pathognomicsymptom "pathognomonic" represents a marked intensification of a "diagnostic" sign or symptom.
The word is an adjective of Greek origin derived from πάθος pathos 'disease' and γνώμων gnomon 'indicator' (from γιγνώσκω gignosko 'I know, I recognize').
Practical use
While some findings may be classic, typical or highly suggestive in a certain condition, they may not occur uniquely in this condition and therefore may not directly imply a specific diagnosis. A pathognomonic sign or symptom has very high
positive predictive value and high specificity but does not need to have high sensitivity: for example it can sometimes be absent in a certain disease, since the term only implies that, when it is present, the doctor instantly knows the patient's illness. The presence of a pathognomonic finding allows immediate diagnosis, since there are no other conditions in the differential diagnosis.[citation needed
]
Singular pathognomonic signs are relatively uncommon. Examples of pathognomonic findings include
Negri bodies within brain tissue infected with rabies, or a tetrad of rash, arthralgia, abdominal pain and kidney disease in a child with Henoch–Schönlein purpura, or succinylacetone for Tyrosinemia Type I.[citation needed
]
As opposed to
blood glucose levels).[citation needed
]
In contrast, a test with very high
Examples
See also
- AIDS defining clinical condition
- List of eponymous medical signs
- Medical sign
- Sine qua non
References
- ^ "Pathognomic". Oxford Dictionaries. Archived from the original on May 27, 2018.
- S2CID 20103607.
- PMID 21044965.
- ISBN 978-0-7817-7815-2.
- PMID 11002765.
- PMID 18290267.
- ISBN 9780323225076.
- PMID 15485514.
- PMID 24353686.
External links
Look up pathognomonic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.