Purpose: Comment the Discussion
To Comment
Prognosis is the prediction of the course of a disease following the onset (Fletcher, Fletcher, & Fletcher, 2014). Prognosis is used to distinguish those conditions or diseases that will cause death, ability to survive, or even last a certain amount of time.
Diagnosis is a concept in which the clinician assesses a person's complaints, abnormalities and performs diagnostic test to come to definitive diagnosis for the patient (Fletcher et al., 2014). These diagnostic tests can include laboratory tests, imaging such as X-ray or MRI, physical assessments, and history.
If a patient comes into the emergency department complaining of abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting the clinician is going to do a physical assessment, have blood test ordered, and possibly order an abdominal x-ray. With these diagnostic tests combined it can lead to a definitive diagnosis. Treatment is any intervention that is intended to improve the course of the disease after it is established (Fletcher et al., 2014). For example, Uterine sarcoma is an aggressive and rare cancer that originates from mesenchymal tissue (Smith & McLaughlin, 2012).
Options for treatment include surgical debulking and disease staging, radiation therapy, and/or chemotherapy.
In terms of diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment; Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are malignant stem-cell diseases that are usually diagnosed in elderly patients who present with anemia or, less commonly, bi- or pancytopenia (Germing, Kobbe, Haas, & Gatterman, 2013).
Their incidence in persons over age 80 is above 50 new cases per 100 000 persons per year (Germing et al., 2013). Their clinical course is variable. The median survival time from the moment of diagnosis is about 30 months but can range to a few years.
MDS are diagnosed by cytology, with consideration of the degree of dysplasia and the percentage of blast cells in the blood and bone marrow, and on a cytogenetic basis (Germing et al., 2013).
The approved treatments, aside from transfusion therapy, include iron depletion therapy for low-risk patients, lenalidomide for low-risk patients with a deletion on the long arm of chromosome 5, and 5-azacytidine for high-risk patients (Germing et al., 2013).
Diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment impact epidemiological studies in a major way. With these three concepts it is possible to see how it affects the population in terms of races, ages, socioeconomic status etc.
Reference List
Fletcher, R. H., Fletcher, S. W., & Fletcher, G. S. (2014). Clinical Epidemiology: The Essentials (5th Ed.). Baltimore, MD: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Germing, U., Kobbe, G., Haas, R., & Gattermann, N. (2013). Myelodysplastic Syndromes: Diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. Deutsches Aerzteblatt International, 110(46), 783-790. doi:10.3238/arztebl.2013.0783
Smith, T., & McLaughlin, P. (2012). Uterine Leiomyosarcoma: Diagnosis, treatment, and nursing management. Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, 16(3), 267-272.
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