The case report is the archetypical medical article. Medical journalism began as the publication of scientists' letters. Only a moderate formalization was needed to convert a letter about an interesting patient into a communication having the usual pattern of introduction, report of case, and discussion. Most authors and editors today consider this the "typical" pattern. But before preparing a report based on this or any other pattern, you must meditate on the question, do you really have something worth saying? A genuinely unique syndrome should be recorded—but not if the uniqueness depends on some trivial variation from previous cases. If a certain neoplasm is known to metastasize widely, there is no need to report each new site that becomes affected in some unfortunate patient. Similarly, untoward drug reactions probably merit publication—but not if the drug is one member of a group whose other members are known to cause the same