SJLD Sep 6, 2009:

splitting hairs "tableau" is picture - clinical or otherwise. There is no mention of "assessment" or even confirmation of diagnosis in the source text.

S halder Sep 6, 2009:

Generally, organ dysfunction or insufficiency is diagnosed only after suspicions raised by clinical signs are confirmed by additional laboratory tests. I suspect that the text may not be that precise.
Good luck

Marjolein Verhulsdonck-Roest Sep 6, 2009:

So the way I understand it, the question actually is whether patients are included in the study solely on the basis of clinical signs of organ failure, or also on the basis of additional laboratory tests.
I don't think the source text is that precise. There is no mention of extra tests in this paragraph (maybe further on in the text?): I'd stick to the general in this case...

S halder Sep 6, 2009:

People tend to overlook that in medicine "clinical" (in english) has got precise connotations. Case history plus clinical examination (inspection, palpation, percussion,auscultation) gives the clinical picture. Investigations (blood tests, bacteriological analysis for example) give corroborative evidences to finalise your diagnosis. If you insist, you can keep "clinical", but in that case you are just using it as a layman's term.

SJLD Sep 5, 2009:

nothing is wrong with "clinical" here in my opinion as a medically qualified person. What the French means is that the patients must present features of organ failure (single or multiple - it is not specified) to be included in the study. If this is not a clinical diagnosis I don't know what it is.

Marjolein Verhulsdonck-Roest Sep 5, 2009:

What is the problem with 'clinical'? Of course I hesitated to add the term 'clinical', since obviously it is not mentioned in the source text (clinique). But since the English phrase is meaningless without it (whereas in Dutch you could easily say both 'klinisch beeld' en 'beeld'), I opted for keeping the phrase as it was. And in my opinion ECGs and biochemical analyses are both clinical tests, so what is the actual problem? Am I missing something? Furthermore, I think that 'assessment' conveys the meaning that the extent of the organ failure is taken into account: is that also the case in the French source text? (I mean, is the French word 'tableau' used in that sense?) Please enlighten me!