In defense of case reports and case series

Case reports and case series have their own role in the progress of medical science. They permit discovery of new diseases and unexpected effects (adv erse or beneficial) as well as the study of mechanisms, and they play an im portant role in medical education. Case reports and series have a high sens itivity for detecting novelty and therefore remain one of the cornerstones of medical progress; they provide many new ideas in medicine. At the same t ime, good case reporting demands a clear focus to make explicit to the audi ence why a particular observation is important In the context of existing k nowledge.