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Prognosis
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Introduction
Once a diagnosis has been made, the main concern for the patient is the forecast of the course of the disease, i.e. his or her prognosis. Questions about prognosis relate to the possible outcomes, how likely each of these outcomes are and when they might occur. Sometimes these questions are easy to answer from experience but more often the answer is difficult to come by. In any case, the prognosis will depend on the stage of the disease and, first and foremost, the therapy given. Clinicians, and nowadays patients too, scan the medical literature for information on available therapies. Being able to appraise the validity, importance and applicability of published evidence requires a good understanding of the principles of evidence-based medicine. The clinician should know what questions to ask: was the study properly designed and executed? Do the patients reflect the full spectrum of patients with the disease? Was the follow-up long enough? And, of course, the most important question: does this information apply to our patient?
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