Secondary Sources - Reviews - EBM

The simplest form of EBM review is the CAT (Critically Appraised Topic). The following links illustrate how this secondary evidence concept is growing into an online resource for clinical practice in several specialties.

The Oxford CATBank

Best BETS (an ER CATBank)

A Neurology CATBank

The Medical Informatics Group, a subdvision of an international Bioinformatics Institute, has developed a search engine that allows you to search for CATs for a particular topic either across eight CATbanks simultaneously, or within the CATbank of your choice.

The Canadian Association of Radiologists Journal publishes Radiology CATs. Examples of our group's contributions include:

Should we use CT or US to assess patients with stable blunt abdominal trauma?

Can we use CT to exclude the diagnosis of small bowel ischaemia?

Can imaging tell if patients will need surgery for adhesive small bowel obstruction?

If you want to make your own CATs, downloading the CEBM/Oxford University CATmaker is a good way to get familar with the steps involved.