Science of performing diagnostic tests

Ryul Kim; Beomseok Jeon

doi:10.1016/j.parkreldis.2019.10.003

Science of performing diagnostic tests

Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2019 Dec:69:11-13. doi: 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2019.10.003. Epub 2019 Oct 7.

Authors

Ryul Kim¹, Beomseok Jeon²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
² Department of Neurology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea. Electronic address: brain@snu.ac.kr.

PMID: 31639497
DOI: 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2019.10.003

Abstract

Advances in diagnostic technologies have revolutionized the field of neurology. There is no doubt that such technologies in clinical practice can hold great promise to improve the diagnosis of movement disorders. However, our concern in the era of diagnostic tests is that clinicians become too dependent on the tests without proper consideration of the clinical context. No matter how excellent a diagnostic test itself is, it is a different matter in clinical practice whether the test enhances the diagnostic accuracy or provides added value beyond the information that is already available. In this article, we explain why clinical evaluation continues to have a central role in the diagnosis of diseases.

Keywords: Diagnostic test; Post-test probability; Pre-test probability.

MeSH terms

Diagnostic Techniques, Neurological*
Humans
Nervous System Diseases / diagnosis*
Neurology / methods*