Otto Albers (X) Dec 26, 2010:

Followup on the repeats If I had to give a specific answer to your query, it would be "yes"; but on second thoughts the "repeat" could be taken as: do it because the results were not accurate, or because we don't agree with some technical aspects of it. You have presented a case for an alternative way of following up, documentarily, a case. Will have to dwell on that.

Joseph Tein Dec 26, 2010:

followup/repeat So specifying"followup" evaluations does give the reader some additional information. It seems that "repeat" would work in this case as well: "repeat ECG," "repeat CT scan", etc.

Otto Albers (X) Dec 25, 2010:

De control Para hablar de "control" es obligante que exista una evaluación inicial, cuyas características, posiblemente desviadas de lo que consideramos "normal", conducen a repetir la evaluación, luego de un tratamiento. Por ello, el "control". Es el seguimiento documentado que se hace para evaluar la eficiencia de una terapia y las vías a seguir en la misma: continuación o modificación, y luego otro "control".
Personalmente no me inclino por el uso de dicho vocablo, pues lo encuentro implícito en el seguimiento documentado de una patología, pero cuando el lector no es de la profesión, quizás sea util agregarlo para mejor entendimiento de lo expuesto.

Joseph Tein Dec 24, 2010:

Gracias Otto ... por la explicación. Y tocante a "de control": Veo con frecuencia "ECG de control" o "TC de control" o "analítica de control". ¿Qué importancia tiene el "... de control"? ¿Hay otros tipos de estudios que no sean "de control"? ¿Se puede omitir en la traducción al inglés?

Otto Albers (X) Dec 24, 2010:

Paraclinical. A short answer? After the physician has performed the clinical examination that is the basic element of medical practice, some tests are ordered that should help confirm or dismiss a diagnosis. These include lab tests, X-rays, MRI's, biopsies, and so on. These are the exams that have made medicine more accurate in our days: imagine some years ago, a doctor putting a silk handkerchief in your chest and with his ear against it, try to make out the different sounds that air makes going in and out of your lungs. That is auscultation, a component of the clinical act. Nowadays the patient stands in, inside, or on top of a machine big enough to take him to the moon, and a more precise diagnosis of his pumonary condition is made. That is paraclinical.
A broken limb is a broken limb, and can be diagnosed by just looking at it. But if an X-ray is not ordered, then someone has to do a lot of explaining (to the patient, to the clinic, or to the insurance company, etc,). End result: a better diagnosis that has a paraclinical material proof of its existence, and costs that are part of the practice. Don't intend to sound critical, just factual of the things seen in 48 years of practice.

liz askew Dec 24, 2010:

so, clinical is based on actual observation, paraclinical is related to actual tests, based on scientfic analysis. My understanding.

liz askew Dec 24, 2010:

clinical - definition of clinical in the Medical dictionary - by ...
clinical /clin·i·cal/ (klin´ĭ-k'l) pertaining to a clinic or to the bedside; pertaining to or founded on actual observation and treatment of patients, ...
medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/clinical - Cached - Similar

liz askew Dec 24, 2010:

http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/paraclinical...

Joseph Tein Dec 24, 2010:

paraclinical ? Someone please explain what, specifically, "paraclinical" tests are. What procedures are involved here? How are they different (if they are) from "clinical" evaluations? I've seen this term before, but have never understood what procedures/examinations it refers to.