New database of case histories launched

Documenting a patient's case history to inform physicians how the patient has been evaluated and the subsequent progression of his or her disease is arguably the oldest method of communicating medical evidence. Case reports typically include:

• Unreported or unusual side effects or adverse interactions involving medications
• Unexpected or unusual presentations of a disease
• New associations or variations in disease processes
• Presentations, diagnoses and/or management of new and emerging diseases
• An unexpected association between diseases or symptoms
• An unexpected event in the course of observing or treating a patient
• Findings that shed new light on the possible pathogenesis of a disease or an adverse effect
• Confirmatory or educational examples of any of the above types of case report

BioMed Central have launched the Cases Database that allows users to search peer-reviewed medical case reports from different sources (including the BMJ). The database is freely accessible, continously updated and currently contains over 11,600 cases from 100 different journals.

The database offers a straight forward search with the ability to filter by condition, symptom, intervention, patient demographics and more.The advance search option allows you to build your search strategy over multiple lines.

Key features of the database include:

•  Simple, semantically-enhanced and advanced search options
•  ‘My Cases Database’ – save searches and cases
•  Email alerts for new cases matching your interests
•  Download and export search results
•  Links to full text of case reports in peer-reviewed journals