Semeiotics

Semeiotics is that branch of medicine that studies the patient through the relief and interpretation of symptoms and signs. Not by chance the semeiotic term derives from semeion, a Greek word meaning sign.

Let us briefly recall that the difference between signs and symptoms lies in the subjectivity of the former compared to the latter: thanks to their senses the patient feels a certain symptom (eg liver pain), which can be confirmed or not by the doctor in an objective manner (through investigations physical and laboratory). In fact, the patient-related symptom is not necessarily real; for liver disease we know for example that pain in the center-upper right region of the abdomen is most often associated with pathologies or abnormal conditions in the extrahepatic site.

The semiotics consists of:

medical history: search for elements from the patient's interrogation regarding generality (date of birth, profession, age, etc.), symptoms, remote and recent aspects of clinical history, familiarity with certain pathologies and anything else that may provide useful elements for formulating diagnostic hypotheses ;

physical semeiotics (direct or semeiotic examination): search for diagnostic elements through the senses of the examiner (inspection of the patient, palpation, percussion, listening, etc.);

functional (or indirect) semiotics: study of the functionality of the various organs or systems through laboratory research (eg blood tests), instrumental diagnostic techniques (eg magnetic resonance) and functional examinations (eg spirometry).

Semeiotics therefore requires in-depth medical knowledge and logical / deductive skills in relating the various diagnostic elements; for this reason, in order to correctly interpret the symptoms of the patient, the collaboration of a team of specialists is often necessary.