The determination of the nature of a disease, injury, or congenital defect. SYN: diacrisis. [G. d., a deciding]
- differential d. the determination of which of two or more diseases with similar symptoms is the one from which the patient is suffering, by a systematic comparison and contrasting of the clinical findings. SYN: differentiation (2).
- d. by exclusion a d. made by excluding those diseases to which only some of the patient's symptoms might belong, leaving one disease as the most likely d., although no definitive tests or findings establish that d..
- laboratory d. a d. made by a chemical, microscopic, microbiologic, immunologic, or pathologic study of secretions, discharges, blood, or tissue.
- neonatal d. systematic evaluation of the newborn for evidence of disease or malformations, and the conclusion reached.
- pathologic d. a d., sometimes postmortem, made from an anatomic and/or histologic study of the lesions present.
- physical d. 1. a d. made by means of physical examination of the patient. 2. the process of a physical examination.
- prenatal d. d. utilizing procedures available for the recognition of diseases and malformations in utero, and the conclusion reached. SYN: antenatal d..
* * *
1 a) the art or act of identifying a disease from its signs and symptoms
b) the decision reached by diagnosis <a \diagnosis of pneumonia>
2) a concise technical description of a taxon
* * *
n.
the process of determining the nature of a disorder by considering the patient's sign and symptom, medical background, and - when necessary - results of laboratory tests and X-ray examinations. See also differential diagnosis, prenatal diagnosis. Compare prognosis.
• diagnostic adj.
* * *
di·ag·no·sis (di″əg-noґsis) [dia- + Gr. gnōsis knowledge] 1. the determination of the nature of a case of disease. 2. the art of distinguishing one disease from another.Medical dictionary. 2011.