Increasing significance of medical case reports: Innovative journal leads the way

[<Charlotte.Webber@biomedcentral.com>]

NEWS RELEASE - BUSINESS

For immediate release

Media Contact Matt McKay Head of Public Relations Email: 
matthew.mckay@biomedcentral.com

Increasing significance of medical case reports: Innovative 
journal leads the way

The importance of case reports has long been recognized among 
surgeons, but this identification is now spreading, with the 
announcement today from the Journal of Medical Case Reports 
(JMCR), that it has published its 500th case report.

JMCR takes the innovative step of publishing only medical case 
reports - articles that have previously been overlooked by 
traditional medical journals. By including all case reports in a 
fully searchable database, JMCR makes each individual patient's 
case a valuable addition to the medical literature.

JMCR has published case reports from all major medical fields 
including cancer, ophthalmology, gastroenterology, infectious 
diseases and musculoskeletal disorders. Since its launch in 2006 
over 530,000 case reports have been downloaded from JMCR's 
website - indicative of the increasing significance and usage of 
case reports in the industry.

Authors of articles published in the journal are not just from 
the US and UK. Many authors have submitted case reports from 
countries as far afield as Nepal and Iran. This signifies the 
inherent value that case reports have to clinical practice 
globally and the importance of contributing directly to advancing 
medical understanding of disease, through the sharing of 
knowledge online.

The 500th article published by JMCR shows an analysis of 113 
medical case reports that identify risk factors for the 
development of complications after endovascular abdominal aortic 
aneurysm repair. By bringing together the case reports and 
amalgamating their results, the researchers of the study were 
able to determine the most likely factors leading to increased 
morbidity and mortality.

The authors of the article stated, "This type of article can help 
to detect specific patterns of patient outcomes, particularly 
with regard to clinically important and rare adverse events and 
complications".

JMCR is edited by Professor Michael Kidd, of the University of 
Sydney. Speaking of the publication of the 500th case report, 
Professor Kidd said, "This is an important milestone for this new 
journal. Our journal is devoted to publishing reports about 
individual people. Reports can serve as an early warning signal 
for the presentations of new and emerging diseases or the side 
effects of new medications. Reports that allow clinicians to 
share the experiences of their patients to support improving 
health care for everybody."

-ENDS-