Doctors write case reports to help call rare conditions to the attention of their peers, or to highlight patients whose diagnoses ended up being a bit of a puzzle. Case reports can shed light on emerging trends, hinting at when a condition might be becoming more common. They can also point out treatments that seem to work for diseases that have very few therapeutic options. At Live Science, our writers and editors highlight a report each week to raise awareness of these cases, and in the process, shed light on how the human body works and what happens when things go awry.
Latest about Diagnostic dilemma
A toddler accidently ate gonorrhea bacteria from a lab dish
In a bizarre medical case published in 1984, a young boy was inadvertently exposed to an STI-causing bacteria in a lab dish.
A woman's nausea was triggered by a huge mass in her stomach — which doctors dissolved with diet soda
A woman's abdominal discomfort turned out to be caused by a build up of food in her stomach. And the treatment involved diet soda.
Diagnostic dilemma: A brain lesion gave a woman a lifetime of joyless laughing fits
A woman had experienced sudden bursts of uncontrolled laughter her whole life. A brain scan revealed why.
A woman got unusual bruising from a massage gun. It turned out she had scurvy.
A woman bruising her leg with a massage gun set off a medical odyssey that revealed scurvy, a disease seen fairly rarely in modern America.
Doctors restore a man's vision by removing his tooth and implanting it in his eye
A man underwent one of the first "tooth-in-eye" surgeries ever conducted in Canada. Only a few hundred people have had the surgery, worldwide.
A knife broke off in a man's chest, and he didn't notice it for 8 years
Diagnostic dilemma A man noticed pus oozing from his chest, and it ended up revealing a knife blade in his thoracic cavity.
A woman kept tasting bleach — and doctors found a hidden cause in her blood
A woman was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that also led to striking behavioral changes — namely, her craving the taste of powdered bleach.
Woman's severe knee pain reveals 'golden threads' in her joints
A woman went to the hospital for severe joint pain in her knees, and an X-ray showed hundreds of strands of gold thread.
