Case reports: Equivalent to bedside teaching in new era of social media

William Osler, one of the fathers of modern medicine, stated: “Always note and record the unusual … Publish it. Save it on a permanent record as a short, concise note. Such communications are always of value.”

In recent years, emphasis has shifted in publishing original studies, review articles, and pictorial essays. In conferences and scientific proceedings, case reports are given back seat and accepted only as e-poster submission, nor are they given weightage in prize selection. Residents and young faculty also consider case report inferior as it does not add value in their selection and promotion. Original articles on diseases published today were once published as case reports. Case reports can be academically valuable and presented in various ways:

1. Diagnostic challenge on imaging

2. Uncommon imaging appearance of common disease

3. Completely worked up case with radiology pathology correlation

4. Change in system or process or protocol

5. Teaching case series.

We would like to highlight the use of the seven C’s for effective reporting of radiology case reports to avoid facing rejection. The seven C’s theory has been adopted from effective business communication by management gurus: The seven C’s of effective communication are completeness, conciseness, consideration, concreteness, clarity, comparison, and correctness.^[1,2]

Completeness is to convey all facts, conciseness means communicating in the fewest possible words, consideration ensures that the patient’s self-respect and institutional ethics are prioritized and met, concreteness ensures true laboratory values and pathology data, clarity ensures 2–3 teaching points from the case, comparison with published cases and literature review is a critical aspect in scientific writing and correctness means that there are no grammatical errors, precise location, size, attenuation, and extent of the positive findings are provided in the report.

Writing and reading a good case report in radiology are equivalent to bedside teaching for the clinicians. William Osler in 1903 stated “To study the phenomena of disease without books is to sail an uncharted sea, while to study books without patients is not to go to sea at all.” Similarly, without practicing writing a good case report from the beginning of career would make it difficult to start the journey as a researcher.