Diagnosis, or in Italian, “Diagnosi Significato,” refers to the crucial process of identifying a disease, ailment, or injury, along with its location and nature. This identification is achieved through careful evaluation of the various symptoms and signs presented by a patient. The foundation of diagnosis lies in analogical reasoning, a method of drawing conclusions based on similarities between different situations.
The procedure a doctor undertakes to formulate a diagnosis unfolds in two key stages. The first phase involves the observation of symptoms. During this stage, a medical professional must discern essential symptoms from those of secondary importance. It is critical to establish which symptoms of the morbid condition are primary and which should be considered consequences of the initial issues.
Following the clarification of the relationships between different symptoms, the next step is to determine which of the known diseases most closely corresponds to the studied morbid state. Rarely does a morbid picture present itself so distinctly that it allows for immediate identification with a disease described in pathology. In such instances, a direct diagnosis is possible because the observed symptoms are so characteristic of a specific process that they leave little room for error.
However, in most cases, a confident identification can only be made after comparing the patterns of various morbid conditions with the symptoms of the condition being diagnosed. This involves evaluating both the differences and similarities presented by the symptomatic complexes. Therefore, diagnosis can be accurately considered an analogical procedure.
Understanding the diagnostic process as essentially a product of analogies clarifies the attempts in recent years to automate it. For example, the use of an electronic computer capable of performing a mathematical analysis of an electrocardiographic tracing makes it possible to complete an electrocardiographic diagnosis in a matter of seconds. This technological advancement exemplifies the ongoing efforts to refine and expedite the diagnostic process in modern medicine.
