Because many software packages and on line services are used for searching medline, we will discuss our strategy in general terms. You may wish to consult your librarian for details on how to implement this strategy using the resources available at your institution. Also, if you plan to access medline via The Physicians Online Service, you should read the paragraph pertaining to this below.
Our suggestions for a medline search are as follows:
1. Search all titles and abstract text for articles where the words endoscopic and ultrasound appear in the same reference.
2. Search all titles and abstract text for articles where the words endoscopic and ultrasonography appear in the same reference.
3. Search all titles and abstracts for the word endosonography.
4.Combine the group of references with the index term endoscopy, digestive system with the references that have the index term endoscopy, gastrointestinal. Search this combined group for references where the index term ultrasonography is also present.
The combination of steps 1, 2, 3 & 4 yielded greater than 500 articles to review from the Medline database in the years 1988 and forward. The overwhelming majority of these were articles that addressed gastrointestinal endoscopic ultrasound in some form. For the years 1983-1987, 84 articles were found. For the years 1976- 1982, 4 articles were found. There were no articles found before 1976.
While there are many available search software packages, the NLM terminology is the "industry standard" and many people do direct medlines searches, either personally or through a librarian. Some may find it helpful to see a query in standard NLM format with the Boolean terminology.
SEARCH STRATEGY FOR EUS
SS1: endoscopic (tw) and ultrasound (tw)
SS2: endoscopic (tw) and ultrasonography (tw)
SS3: endosonography (tw) or EUS (tw)
SS4: explode endoscopy, digestive system (mh)
SS5: explode ultrasonography (mh)
SS6: 4 and 5
SS7: 1 or 2 or 3 or 6
We have found it useful to employ one of the many software packages that transfers the results of a search into a database. Once an initial database has been set up, the subsequent searches can be added to the database so large numbers of articles can be converted into desired bibliographic formats. Your local librarian or software store may be able to advise you on the various packages available to manage references. Procite and Reference Manager are two popular examples of this type of software.
The Physician's Online Service provides free medline database access to physicians who have a modem. The software used by this service does not allow the user to combine searches as is described above. Although this is somewhat limiting, a reasonably thorough search of the current literature is possible using the terms described above. To combine the above terms using "and" the boolean search method needs to be selected from the options menu. To find out more about using medline via The Physician Online Service click here
To obtain searchable databases on disks that contain the abstracts which have been submitted to the Digestive Disease Week & American College of Gastroenterology Meetings click here.
We are hopeful that this search strategy will be useful to those who are interested in collecting references on endoscopic ultrasound. We are also eager to incorporate any improvements that are suggested into future search strategies. If you have any comments or suggestions on how to improve this search, or about searching for EUS articles using The Physician's Online Service please contact John Affronti, M.S., M.D.
John Affronti can be contacted in the following ways:
E-mail:affro001@mc.duke.edu
Phone: (919) 684-3657
Fax: (919) 681-8417
Snail Mail: John Affronti M.S., M.D.,
Assistant Professor of Medicine,
Box 3662, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710
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