The role of case reports in evidence-based practice, with suggestions for improving their reporting

Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology

Volumn 60, Issue 3, 2009, Pages 412-418

  Albrecht, Joerg ^a   Werth, Victoria P ^b,c   Bigby, Michael ^d,e  

^a Jr Hospital of Cook County   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA   (United States)

^c VETERANS AFFAIRS MEDICAL CENTER   (United States)

^d HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL   (United States)

^e BETH ISRAEL DEACONESS MEDICAL CENTER   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ALPHA INTERFERON; ATYPICAL ANTIPSYCHOTIC AGENT; BENDECTIN; CD20 ANTIBODY; DAPSONE; DEBENDOX; DOXYLAMINE; GABAPENTIN; HERBACEOUS AGENT; IMIQUIMOD; IMMUNOGLOBULIN; INSULIN; MYCOPHENOLIC ACID 2 MORPHOLINOETHYL ESTER; NAPROXEN; PHYSOSTIGMINE; POTASSIUM IODIDE; PYRIDOXINE; RITUXIMAB; STEROID; TERBINAFINE; THALIDOMIDE; TUMOR NECROSIS FACTOR ALPHA ANTIBODY;

ANEMIA; ARTICLE; AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE; BEHCET DISEASE; BULLOUS PEMPHIGOID; CASE REPORT; CHINESE HERB; CLINICAL EFFECTIVENESS; CLINICAL PRACTICE; DERMATITIS HERPETIFORMIS; DRUG APPROVAL; DRUG EFFICACY; DRUG MARKETING; ERYTHEMA NODOSUM; ERYTHEMA NODOSUM LEPROSUM; EVIDENCE BASED PRACTICE; HODGKIN DISEASE; HUMAN; IMMUNOGLOBULIN A NEPHROPATHY; INSULIN DEPENDENT DIABETES MELLITUS; KIDNEY DISEASE; MEDICAL LITERATURE; MORNING SICKNESS; MYASTHENIA GRAVIS; OFF LABEL DRUG USE; PEMPHIGUS; PEMPHIGUS VULGARIS; PRACTICE GUIDELINE; PRIORITY JOURNAL; PSEUDOPORPHYRIA; PSORIASIS; PYODERMA GANGRENOSUM; SKIN LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS; STROKE; SYSTEMIC VASCULITIS; TERATOGENICITY; VASCULITIS; VITILIGO;

DERMATOLOGY; EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE; HUMANS; MEDICAL RECORDS; PUBLISHING;

EID: 60149109835     PISSN: 01909622     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.jaad.2008.10.023     Document Type: Article

References (51)

1. Walker M.B. Treatment of myasthenia gravis with physostigmine. Lancet 1 (1934) 1200-1201
2. Moses L.E. The series of consecutive cases as a device for assessing outcomes of intervention. N Engl J Med 311 (1984) 705-710
3. Oxford Center for Evidence-based Medicine. Levels of evidence (2001). Available from: URL: http://www.cebm.net/levels_of_evidence.asp. Accessed March 9, 2006.
4. Stephens M.D.B. Introduction. In: Stephens M.D.B., Talbot J.C.C., and Routledge P.A. (Eds). Detection of new adverse drug reactions (1998), Macmillan Reference Ltd, London 1-57
5. Albrecht J., Meves A., and Bigby M. Case reports and case series from Lancet had significant impact on medical literature. J Clin Epidemiol 58 (2005) 1227-1232
6. Patsopoulos N.A., Analatos A.A., and Ioannidis J.P. Relative citation impact of various study designs in the health sciences. JAMA 293 (2005) 2362-2366
7. Bernhard J.D. A case of too many case reports. J Am Acad Dermatol 45 (2001) 773-774
8. Journal of Medical Case Reports. Available from: URL: http://www.jmedicalcasereports.com/. Accessed April 14, 2008.
9. Radiology Case Reports. Available from: URL: http://radiology.casereports.net/index.php/rcr. Accessed April 14, 2008.
10. Case Reports in Gastroenterology. Available from: URL: http://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?Aktion=JournalHome&ProduktNr=232833. Accessed April 14, 2008.
11. Cases Journal. Available from: URL: www.casesjournal.com. Accessed August 19, 2008.
12. Hohenleutner U., Mohr V.D., Michel S., and Landthaler M. Mycophenolate mofetil and cyclosporin treatment for recalcitrant pyoderma gangrenosum. Lancet 350 (1997) 1748
13. Zimmer-Molsberger B., Knauf W., and Thiel E. Mycophenolate mofetil for severe autoimmune hemolytic anemia. Lancet 350 (1997) 1003-1004
14. Enk A.H., and Knop J. Treatment of pemphigus vulgaris with mycophenolate mofetil. Lancet 350 (1997) 494
15. Bohm M., Beissert S., Schwarz T., Metze D., and Luger T. Bullous pemphigoid treated with mycophenolate mofetil. Lancet 349 (1997) 541
16. Nowack R., Birck R., and van der Woude F.J. Mycophenolate mofetil for systemic vasculitis and IgA nephropathy. Lancet 349 (1997) 774
17. Dalziel K., Round A., Stein K., Garside R., Castelnuovo E., and Payne L. Do the findings of case series studies vary significantly according to methodological characteristics?. Health Technol Assess 9 (2005) 1-202
18. Albrecht J, Meves A, Bigby M. A survey of case reports and case series in the Archives of Dermatology. Int J Dermatol. In press.
19. Picard D., Carvalho P., Bonnavia C., Louin L., Josset V., Lauret P., et al. Assessment off-label prescribing in dermatology [French]. Ann Dermatol Venereol 130 (2003) 507-510
20. Brunne V., Mertins G., Reimann G., and Brockmeyer N.H. Off-label use in dermatological practice: the conflict between professional duty and legal requirements [German]. Hautarzt 55 (2004) 727-734
21. Li V.W., Jaffe M.P., Li W.W., and Haynes H.A. Off-label dermatologic therapies: usage, risks, and mechanisms. Arch Dermatol 134 (1998) 1449-1454
22. Center for Disease Control, Division of Foodborn, Bacterial, and Mycotic Diseases. Technical information: leprosy (Hansen's disease). Available from: URL: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/hansens_t.htm. Accessed November 28, 2007.
23. Medscape. Available from: URL: www.medscape.com. Accessed November 28, 2007.
24. Gordon J.N., Trebble T.M., Ellis R.D., Duncan H.D., Johns T., and Goggin P.M. Thalidomide in the treatment of cancer cachexia: a randomized placebo controlled trial. Gut 54 (2005) 540-545
25. Steinman M.A., Bero L.A., Chren M.M., and Landefeld C.S. Narrative review: the promotion of gabapentin: an analysis of internal industry documents. Ann Intern Med 145 (2006) 284-293
26. Abel U. Erkenntnisgewinn mittels nichtrandomisierter Therapiestudien-gaining understanding through nonrandomized therapeutic studies. Ellipse 15 (1999) 48-58
27. Albrecht J., and Bigby M. What makes a good case series. In: Williams H. (Ed). Evidence-based dermatology (2008), Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Oxford 56-60
28. Jenicek M. Clinical case reporting in evidence-based medicine (2001), Arnold, London
29. Albrecht J., and Bigby M. The meaning of "safe and effective.". J Am Acad Dermatol 48 (2003) 144-147
30. Feinstein A.R. An additional basic science for clinical medicine, IV: the development of clinimetrics. Ann Intern Med 99 (1983) 843-848
31. Severity scoring of atopic dermatitis: the SCORAD index. Consensus report of the European task force on atopic dermatitis. Dermatology 186 (1993) 23-31
32. Albrecht J., Taylor L., Berlin J.A., Dulay S., Ang G., Fakharzadeh S., et al. The CLASI (cutaneous lupus erythematosus disease area and severity index): an outcome instrument for cutaneous lupus erythematosus. J Invest Dermatol 125 (2005) 889-894
33. Bigby M., and Gadenne A.S. Understanding and evaluating clinical trials. J Am Acad Dermatol 34 (1996) 555-590
34. Charman C.R., Venn A.J., and Williams H.C. Measurement of body surface area involvement in atopic eczema: an impossible task?. Br J Dermatol 140 (1999) 109-111
35. Schulz E.J., and Whiting D.A. Treatment of erythema nodosum and nodular vasculitis with potassium iodide. Br J Dermatol 94 (1976) 75-78
36. Miyachi Y., and Niwa Y. Effects of potassium iodide, colchicine and dapsone on the generation of polymorphonuclear leukocyte-derived oxygen intermediates. Br J Dermatol 107 (1982) 209-214
37. Horio T., Danno K., Okamoto H., Miyachi Y., and Imamura S. Potassium iodide in erythema nodosum and other erythematous dermatoses. J Am Acad Dermatol 9 (1983) 77-81
38. Sharquie K.E. Suppression of Behçet's disease with dapsone. Br J Dermatol 110 (1984) 493-494
39. Oh C.J., Das K.M., and Gottlieb A.B. Treatment with anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) monoclonal antibody dramatically decreases the clinical activity of psoriasis lesions. J Am Acad Dermatol 42 (2000) 829-830
40. Reich K., Nestle F.O., Papp K., Ortonne J.P., Evans R., Guzzo C., et al. Infliximab induction and maintenance therapy for moderate-to-severe psoriasis: a phase III, multicenter, double-blind trial. Lancet 366 (2005) 1367-1374
41. Ahmed A.R., Spigelman Z., Cavacini L.A., and Posner M.R. Treatment of pemphigus vulgaris with rituximab and intravenous immune globulin. N Engl J Med 355 (2006) 1772-1779
42. Bigby M. The Blue Journal 25 years ago: Lever WF. Pemphigus and pemphigoid: a review of the advances made since 1964. J Am Acad Dermatol 51 (2004) 416
43. Galaria N.A., Werth V.P., and Schumacher H.R. Leukocytoclastic vasculitis due to etanercept. J Rheumatol 27 (2000) 2041-2044
44. Brown T., Zirvi M., Cotsarelis G., and Gelfand J.M. Vitiligo-like hypopigmentation associated with imiquimod treatment of genital warts. J Am Acad Dermatol 52 (2005) 715-716
45. Pauluzzi P., Kokelj F., Perkan V., Pozzato G., and Moretti M. Psoriasis exacerbation induced by interferon-alpha: report of two cases. Acta Derm Venereol 73 (1993) 395
46. Brooke R., Coulson I.H., and al Dawoud A. Terbinafine-induced subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus. Br J Dermatol 139 (1998) 1132-1133
47. Callen J.P., Hughes A.P., and Kulp-Shorten C. Subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus induced or exacerbated by terbinafine: a report of 5 cases. Arch Dermatol 137 (2001) 1196-1198
48. Katz K.A., Hivnor C.M., Geist D.E., Shapiro M., Ming M.E., and Werth V.P. Stroke and deep venous thrombosis complicating intravenous immunoglobulin infusions. Arch Dermatol 139 (2003) 991-993
49. Lord G.M., Tagore R., Cook T., Gower P., and Pusey C.D. Nephropathy caused by Chinese herbs in the UK. Lancet 354 (1999) 481-482
50. Howard A.M., Dowling J., and Varigos G. Pseudoporphyria due to naproxen. Lancet 1 (1985) 819-820
51. Lee A.N., and Werth V.P. Activation of autoimmunity following use of immunostimulatory herbal supplements. Arch Dermatol 140 (2004) 723-727