Clinical practice
A suspected case of factitious disorder
V. Dionys, K. Demyttenaere
Factitious disorder (FD) is defined as the intentional production or feigning of disease in oneself to relieve emotional distress by assuming the role of a sick person. We describe a case of a 46-year-old woman with unexplained prolongation of the prothrombin time and hematomas. A careful evaluation, history taking and multidisciplinary discussion led to a suspected diagnosis of factitious disorder. With this case report we want to emphasize the importance of being attentive to this complex diagnosis and the need for more research.