Michelle Simpson, PharmD, BCSCP, MWC | Editor-in-Chief, Infusion Journal

One report is an event; 2 are a coincidence, and a third is a potential association. Case reports are one of the most relevant types of manuscripts. A PubMed analysis of a 30-year span (1991 – 2020) found more than 1 million articles of primary literature, with case reports representing 27.54%.¹  Case reports describe new diseases or disease mechanisms, therapeutic approaches, and adverse or beneficial effects of drugs. They are short communications intended to share experiences with an interesting or unusual patient case. A case report tells a real-world story that can be applied to similar scenarios. If applied and the outcome is repeated, it leads to further evaluation and larger study designs.

Case reports reflect clinical experience and support medical progress. Case-based research is at odds with the population-based nature of research studies, where findings may have little relevance to an individual patient. Large research studies have narrow inclusion criteria and the absence of comorbidities. This design creates a disconnection between typical research patients and the patients expected to be prescribed the medication. Case reports supply enough detail on 1 or a small number of patients for clinicians to relate it to their own practice.

Clinicians will use case reports to direct the care provided to patients, including home infusion patients. Case reports can offer solutions to individualized problems when dealing with rare diseases or new medications. Home infusion professionals regularly receive prescriptions for off-label indications or medication doses, and they may find the only information supporting it is a single case report. Despite its long history, the home setting for infusion of many medications and therapeutic classes of drugs is considered cutting-edge. It is perceived as administering medications in circumstances where it was previously unthinkable. Interesting and unique patient cases are a common occurrence in home infusion.

Infusion Journal wants to publish case reports from home infusion professionals. When you are collaborating and solving potential barriers to onboarding a patient to home infusion services, those innovations can be written into a case report. The patient with a specific reason for previously being ineligible for home infusion might be the case report that raises awareness of a protocol to safely manage other patients with the same issue. Case reports are shorter and easier to write than other types of manuscripts. The focus is on an exceptional patient situation and discusses it in detail, adding a literature review to the topic. Authors should write about why the main message is important and provide descriptions of the symptoms, signs, diagnosis, treatment, or follow-up of an individual patient. Well-written and transparent case reports reveal early signals of potential benefits, harms, and information on the use of resources; provide information for clinical research and clinical practice guidelines; and inform medical education.²

The home setting for infusion medications offers an ample supply of topics for interesting and unique patient cases to report. If you have a patient case or idea for writing a case report or questions about submitting a manuscript to Infusion Journal, contact: infusionjournal@nhia.org.