In this issue, Goldschlager's review of the treadmill exercise test (1) introduces a new series. The series, titled "Diagnostic Decision," will critically examine diagnostic devices and methods.
Taking the patient's history and doing the physical examination are still the physician's most valuable sources of diagnostic information. They are, however, being supplemented by a continually increasing number of serum assays, imaging techniques, and invasive measures of physiologic function. Many of these new tests replace older tests or provide new sources of information, but some only supplement existing tests or, like new drugs, offer "me-too" alternatives.
"Drugs Five Years Later," an existing