Case Report Writing
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EDITORIAL NOTES
Case Report Writing Vijaykumar Dehannathparambil Kottarathil 1 Received: 22 September 2020 / Accepted: 24 September 2020 # Indian Association of Surgical Oncology 2020
Willim Osler, a Canadian Physician and one of the four founding fathers of John Hopkins Hospital in 1920, said that “Always note and record the unusual... Publish it. Place it on permanent record as a short, concise note. Such communications are always of value.” Many advances in clinical practice have occurred as a result of valuable information and new ideas presented in case reports. Case report writing is possibly the first step in scientific writing for a health care professional. Case report writing may be regarded as the bottom rung of the hierarchy of evidence in literature; however, it is probably the best way for initiation of a young medical professional into the world of scientific writing. It requires less effort, while retaining all the essentials of basic methodology of scientific writing. It also requires fewer resources. A case report could either be an entirely new disease entity hitherto unknown or should contribute new knowledge to the understanding, diagnosis, or management of a known disease. The important thing to remember while choosing a case for reporting is to ensure that it contains some learning point, either a new technique, a new diagnostic point, a different way of treating, or an unexpected response to conventional treatment. There should be some new knowledge gained, and the reader must be able to identify and use the learning point from the case if confronted with a similar situation. Educational value rather than extreme rarity is what an editor will look for in a case report. Case reports are generally shorter than other articles. A definite structure is to be followed with a title, abstract, a brief introduction including literature review, a description of the actual case, followed by discussion, and conclusion. The actual format of the case report will differ according to the * Vijaykumar Dehannathparambil Kottarathil [email protected] 1
Amrita Centre for Breast diseases, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center, Kochi, Kerala 682041, India
journal chosen, but most will have a similar sort of structure. There will be a limitation on the number of words, references, figures, and tables, and this should be checked before submission. Other forms of short communication with the readers include letter to editor, case series, and images of rare disease or unusual presentation. A letter to the editor should be written immediately after the appearance of the article concerned. If there is a delay of a few months after publication, most editors would not be interested in publishing the same. It has to be short and one needs to come directly to the point. Do not be afraid of criticizing or pointing out differences if any. Remember that the original authors will be given the right to respond to the letter and it may be published in the same or subsequent issue. Letter to edit
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