clinical-pathologic conference

clinical-pathologic conference,

a teaching conference in which a case is presented to a clinician, who then demonstrates the process of reasoning that leads to his or her diagnosis. A pathologist then presents an anatomic diagnosis, based on the study of tissue removed at surgery or obtained in autopsy. Often the students will have been asked to suggest a diagnosis based on the same information presented to the clinician. A discussion usually follows and serves to demonstrate the origin of errors present in any of the diagnoses offered. The pathologist's diagnosis is usually the definitive one. The clinical-pathologic conference is the model for the long series called "case report" in the New England Journal of Medicine and is a part of the curricula of most medical schools.