Table 2.

Differential diagnosis cognitive aids

Anatomical differential diagnosis	Physiological differential diagnosis	Aetiopathological differential diagnosis
Pain syndromes e.g. central chest pain may be categorized as arising from the heart, aorta, oesophagus, chest wall etc.	Shock this may be hypovolaemic, distributive, obstructive or cardiogenic	Congenital or hereditary
Swellings e.g. a neck swelling differential diagnosis will include the thyroid, lymph nodes, vascular, skin etc.	Thrombosis this may be related to a vessel wall pathology, blood constituents or flow rate	Acquired
		1. Traumatic
		2. Infective: viral, bacterial etc.
		3. Inflammatory/auto-immune
		4. Vascular/degenerative
		5. Neoplastic/para-neoplastic
		6. Metabolic/endocrine
		7. Drug-induced/poisoning
		8. Deficiency diseases
		9. Psychogenic
		10. Idiopathic/cryptogenic