• CELLMED
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.4.1-4.4
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• 2024

The development of clinical reasoning, which is the basis of medical education, is of great importance in medical universities. One of the founders of modern structural clinical reasoning, based on the knowledge of pathological physiology, is the inventor of the stethoscope Rene Laennec (1781-1826). He described the pioneering experience of clinical reasoning in the pages of his treatise A Treatise on the Diseases of the Chest and on Mediate Auscultation, which is of lasting value, since every rookie physicians in his professional development goes through the path of Laennec. Laennec's practice is of great importance for novice physicians since Laennec's treatise contains a diagnostic analysis of the most common clinical cases. Each such analysis demonstrates the algorithm of clinical reasoning. The purpose of this study was to analyze the approaches of clinical reasoning by René Laennec, which made it possible to identify two basic principles. Laennec's diagnostic reasoning involved two principles: pathogenetic analysis of clinical manifestations and a syndrome-based approach to differential diagnosis. These principles help distinguish between diseases with similar symptoms and physical findings are used to demonstrate the practical application of syndrome-based differential diagnosis. These principles can be easily mastered by understanding the pathogenesis of clinical manifestations. Thanks to the pathogenetic basis, the principles of clinical reasoning of Rene Laennec are universal and applicable to the analysis of any signs of the disease: not only physical but also laboratory and instrumental.