ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Diagnostic errors have often been attributed to biases in physicians' reasoning. Interventions to 'immunise' physicians against bias have focused on improving reasoning processes and have largely failed. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of increasing physicians' relevant knowledge on their susceptibility to availability bias. DESIGN, SETTINGS AND PARTICIPANTS: Three-phase multicentre randomised experiment with second-year internal medicine residents from eight teaching hospitals in Brazil. INTERVENTIONS: Immunisation: Physicians diagnosed one of two sets of vignettes (either diseases associated with chronic diarrhoea or with jaundice) and compared/contrasted alternative diagnoses with feedback. Biasing phase (1 week later): Physicians were biased towards either inflammatory bowel disease or viral hepatitis. Diagnostic performance test: All physicians diagnosed three vignettes resembling inflammatory bowel disease, three resembling hepatitis (however, all with different diagnoses). Physicians who increased their knowledge of either chronic diarrhoea or jaundice 1 week earlier were expected to resist the bias attempt. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: Diagnostic accuracy, measured by test score (range 0-1), computed for subjected-to-bias and not-subjected-to-bias vignettes diagnosed by immunised and not-immunised physicians. RESULTS: Ninety-one residents participated in the experiment. Diagnostic accuracy differed on subjected-to-bias vignettes, with immunised physicians performing better than non-immunised physicians (0.40 vs 0.24; difference in accuracy 0.16 (95% CI 0.05 to 0.27); p=0.004), but not on not-subjected-to-bias vignettes (0.36 vs 0.41; difference -0.05 (95% CI -0.17 to 0.08); p=0.45). Bias only hampered non-immunised physicians, who performed worse on subjected-to-bias than not-subjected-to-bias vignettes (difference -0.17 (95% CI -0.28 to -0.05); p=0.005); immunised physicians' accuracy did not differ (p=0.56). CONCLUSIONS: An intervention directed at increasing knowledge of clinical findings that discriminate between similar-looking diseases decreased physicians' susceptibility to availability bias, reducing diagnostic errors, in a simulated setting. Future research needs to examine the degree to which the intervention benefits other disease clusters and performance in clinical practice. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: 68745917.1.1001.0068.
Subject(s)
Physicians , Adult , Bias , Diagnostic Errors , Diagnostic Tests, Routine , Female , Humans , MaleABSTRACT
A doença sistêmica relacionada à IgG4 é uma doença emergente, recentemente descrita, caracterizada clinicamente por aumento parcial ou total de um órgão, e, por isso, com amplo espectro de manifestações clínicas. Esta é uma doença sistêmica fibroinflamatória, patologicamente provocada pela infiltração de plasmoblastos IgG4 positivos que levam à inflamação eosinofílica do tecido e, consequentemente, fibrose estoriforme. Quando o diagnóstico é precoce, a melhora clínica e resposta sustentada com corticosteroides sistêmicos é impressionante. O diagnóstico é baseado em critérios patológicos, mas, recentemente, alguns trabalhos têm descrito que plasmoblastos no soro podem servir como um fator independente para auxiliar no diagnóstico da doença. Este artigo descreve uma apresentação atípica da doença relacionada à IgG4, em um paciente linfopênico com medição inconclusiva de plasmoblastos no soro.
IgG4-related systemic disease is a recently described, emerging condition, clinically characterized by partial or total enlargement of an organ, with a broad spectrum of clinical manifestations. It is a systemic fibroinflammatory condition caused by the infiltration of IgG4-positive plasmablasts that lead to eosinophilic inflammation of tissues and consequently storiform fibrosis. When diagnosis is early, clinical improvement and maintained response achieved with systemic corticosteroids is impressive. Diagnosis is based on pathological criteria, but recent papers have described that serum plasmablasts may serve as an independent factor to aid in diagnosis. This paper describes an atypical presentation of IgG4-related disease in a lymphopenic patient with inconclusive serum plasmablast measurement.
Subject(s)
Humans , Female , Middle Aged , Immunoglobulin G4-Related Disease , Immunoglobulin G4-Related Disease/diagnosis , Lymphopenia , Serositis , Eosinophils , HypergammaglobulinemiaABSTRACT
Relatamos o caso de uma paciente idosa avaliada por apresentar dispneia e dor na borda costal direita, em que a radiografia de tórax demonstrou opacidade simulando lesão pulmonar e a tomografia computadorizada revelou ser de origem vascular. A síndrome aórtica aguda por ulceração de placa ateromatosa, penetrando através da lâmina elástica, associada a hematoma aórtico e aneurisma constitui importante diagnóstico diferencial nesses casos.
The authors report the case of an elderly woman assessed for dyspnea and right costal margin pain, whose chest radiography demonstrated opacity simulating pulmonary lesion, and computed tomography revealed the vascular origin of the condition. Acute aortic syndrome due to ruptured atheromatous plaque penetrating through the elastic lamina in association with aortic hematoma and aneurysm is a relevant differential diagnosis to be considered in these cases.
ABSTRACT
The authors report the case of an elderly woman assessed for dyspnea and right costal margin pain, whose chest radiography demonstrated opacity simulating pulmonary lesion, and computed tomography revealed the vascular origin of the condition. Acute aortic syndrome due to ruptured atheromatous plaque penetrating through the elastic lamina in association with aortic hematoma and aneurysm is a relevant differential diagnosis to be considered in these cases.
Relatamos o caso de uma paciente idosa avaliada por apresentar dispneia e dor na borda costal direita, em que a radiografia de tórax demonstrou opacidade simulando lesão pulmonar e a tomografia computadorizada revelou ser de origem vascular. A síndrome aórtica aguda por ulceração de placa ateromatosa, penetrando através da lâmina elástica, associada a hematoma aórtico e aneurisma constitui importante diagnóstico diferencial nesses casos.
