Larrivee Posted September 8, 2012 Report Share Posted September 8, 2012 Hey guys So, I am working on a case report right now and am a total noob at it. I am reviewing the literature using primarily PMC and MEDLine (have also used google scholar to see if any other articles pop up) to see if there are existing case reports on similar patients/procedures. I have not found anything similar after several hours of searching, but when writing the discussion section is that enough to state that "there have been no other reports of X and procedure Y in Z patient population"? To me it seems bold to make such a statement, but I really don't think that there is anything out there, or at least, if there is a similar disease presentation I haven't found anyone who has measured the certain parameter that the surgeon I am working with believes is remarkable. How do I ensure that I have done a thorough lit review? Are there certain search techniques that you recommend? Thanks people, -L Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-Stark Posted September 8, 2012 Report Share Posted September 8, 2012 You're using MeSH headings and everything in PubMed? Not much more to do really - no need to make declarations that no other reports exist, since in the discussion you are making the case for why this situation is unique or interesting, now completely novel or previously unknown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooty Posted September 8, 2012 Report Share Posted September 8, 2012 I thought medline is a subset of pubmed that uses mesh. if you do a thorough lit search on pubmed and find nothing, isn't that it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lactic Folly Posted September 8, 2012 Report Share Posted September 8, 2012 I usually say "To the best of our knowledge, no other cases of ... have been reported in the literature," or you could describe how your search did not return anything. Not all journals are indexed in pubmed/medline. I suggest contacting your local health sciences library - their librarians are available for consultations on search strategies, and often offer classes on searching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviathan Posted September 8, 2012 Report Share Posted September 8, 2012 You can say to the best of your knowledge there have been no other reports of it based on a search and then describe what methods you used to search (eg what engines and what keywords). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larrivee Posted September 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2012 Thanks guys, I appreciate the tips. I can see how it may be beneficial to include search techniques in showing readers that I have done a thorough lit review. However, the journal that I will be submitting this case report to has very strict word counts and I don't believe I will have room to include a section describing search methods. I forgot about librarians, good idea! I may meet with a librarian before submitting the article to ensure that I have employed adequate search techniques. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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