Clinical Cases by Organ System. Click on the menu buttons above to explore the cases.


After a few weeks of clinical practice, medical students and residents realize that patients are often different from the classic disease descriptions in the textbooks. One experienced physician summarized this by saying: "his asthma did not read the book." How to bridge this gap between theory and practice? Our answer was to create this free case-based curriculum of clinical medicine. ClinicalCases.org was featured in the British Medical Journal and Medscape.com, and was referenced several times in the medical education literature. The project is hyperlinked in the websites of 31 medical schools in the U.S., Canada, South America, Europe and Asia, and has had more than 4 million page views since 2005.

This case-based curriculum was started by physicians at Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University for the purpose of medical education. The published reports do not follow real cases. Health professionals are invited to submit cases of educational value without HIPAA identifiers through an online form. Please read the website disclaimer.

Physical Examination Videos

Vocal vs. tactile fremitus? Percussion of the spleen? You can refresh your physical exam skills by reviewing medical videos offered by several U.S. medical schools and other organizations.

Electrocardiograms, X-rays, CT scans

Electrocardiograms (ECG/EKG)
ECG Wave-Maven by Harvard Medical School is a fully-fledged ECG-trainer. You can browse through typical or not so typical EKGs in the EKG World Encyclopedia by McGill University. Check out the arrhythmia simulator by SkillStat with a play, pause and quiz mode. ECG Palm Brain is a useful online and PDA reference. Our own A Systematic Approach to Electrocardiogram (ECG, EKG) Interpretation by Using 2 Mnemonics also be helpful along with EKGs with Dr. Koch: It's Not Only Educational It's Also Fun!


ECG Video part 1: For Med Students studying the basics of reading an electrocardiogram, from the University of Wisconsin. See part 2 of the video on YouTube.

X-rays and CT scans
The University of Virginia has a comprehensive web site dedicated to CXR and CT scans. Compare what you see on the screen to the CT scans of your patient. You are not sure if this is the tail of the pancreas? Just click with the mouse and the anatomical structure is colored in red. ICU CXR is another useful website from University of Virginia. It will answer such burning questions as "Is the central line where it is supposed to be?" or "Does he have a pneumothorax?!"

See more links by APDIM E-Learning Task Force: Cardiac Auscultation, Chest X-Rays, Electrocardiograms, Patient Images (Dermatology), Pulmonary Function Tests, 2009.

Procedure Guides Step-by-Step

Central line placement. See also Central line placement with ultrasound guidance.
Thoracentesis (pleural tap)
Paracentesis (ascites tap)
Arthrocentesis (joint tap)
Arterial line placement is illustrated in The Internet Journal of Health.
Lumbar puncture in eMedicine
More procedure links

Clinical Images from NEJM

Question & Answer

Click for the answers of clinical questions from everyday practice.

Web Site Disclaimer

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All opinions expressed here are those of their authors and not of their employer.

Information provided here is for medical education only. It is not intended as and does not substitute for medical advice. If you are a patient, please see your doctor for evaluation of your individual case. Under no circumstances will the authors be liable to you for any direct or indirect damages arising in connection with use of this website.

The appearance of external hyperlinks to other websites does not constitute endorsement. We do not verify, endorse, or take responsibility for the accuracy, currency, completeness or quality of the content contained in these sites.

There is no real life patient data on this website. Please note: we do not write or “blog” about patients. All case descriptions are fictional, similar to the descriptions you can find in a multiple choice questions textbook for board exam preparation. Cases course and description do not follow real cases. Report a suspected HIPAA violation to: clinicalcases@gmail.com.

Updated: 10/01/2009