Meaning & use
differential diagnosis
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable or uncountablemedical
A doctor's method of weighing several possible illnesses that fit a patient's symptoms, then ruling them out one by one.
Grammar: Countable for a particular list (a long differential diagnosis), uncountable for the process in general.
Patterns
- a differential diagnosis of something
- a differential diagnosis for something
The doctor listed a differential diagnosis that included flu, pneumonia and a chest infection.
Chest pain has a wide differential diagnosis, from heartburn to a heart attack.
Students practice differential diagnosis by working through patient case studies.
nouncountablemedical
The list of conditions that remain possible while tests are still being done.
Grammar: Often shortened to 'differential' in hospitals: add it to the differential.
Patterns
- narrow the differential diagnosis
- add something to the differential diagnosis
The blood test helped narrow the differential diagnosis.
Rare diseases were still on the differential diagnosis after the first scan.
She wrote a short differential diagnosis in the patient's notes.
Word forms
| plural | differential diagnoses |
|---|
Common combinations
- narrow the differential diagnosis
- An X-ray helped the team narrow the differential diagnosis.
- broad differential diagnosis
- Fatigue has a broad differential diagnosis.
- include something in the differential diagnosis
- Doctors should include anemia in the differential diagnosis.
- make a differential diagnosis
- It took two visits to make a differential diagnosis.
- differential diagnosis of a condition
- The differential diagnosis of a rash can be long.
Synonyms and how they differ
- diagnosis
- A diagnosis is the conclusion reached, whereas a differential diagnosis is the list of candidates still being compared.
- assessment
- Assessment is a general term for an evaluation and does not imply comparing competing illnesses.
- workup
- A workup is the set of tests and exams carried out, while differential diagnosis is the reasoning about what they might show.
Word family
- diagnose verb
- to identify an illness from its signs
- diagnostic adjective
- relating to diagnosis
- differential adjective
- showing or based on a difference
- diagnostician noun
- a person skilled at diagnosing illness
Commonly confused: differential diagnosis or prognosis?
differential diagnosis vs prognosis
A prognosis predicts how an illness will develop, while a differential diagnosis lists what the illness might be.
Practice
The doctor said the rash had a long ____, so more tests were needed.
Choose one answer.
A differential diagnosis is the list of possible causes. A prognosis predicts future course, which does not explain needing more tests to identify the cause.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “differential diagnosis”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.