Cochrane Library

The Cochrane Library has justifiably achieved iconic status by its commitment to evidence-based medicine, most importantly through its near encyclopedic database of Systematic Reviews. These reviews, which are regularly updated, are organized under general categories. Examples of particular interest to surgeons are the Cochrane Colorectal Cancer Group, the Breast Cancer Group, the Metabolic and Endocrine Disorders Group, the Upper Gastrointestinal and Pancreatic Diseases Group, the Hepatobiliary Group, and so forth.

Clicking on any of these categories opens a comprehensive list of specific review subjects. Although access to the full text of these reviews requires that one be a subscriber to the Cochrane Library, the abstracts have been made available free of charge. You can browse these abstracts by clicking on the link in the description of "Abstracts" located in the central section of the Cochrane Library home page.

To access abstracts, simply click here to visit the Cochrane Library. Once you access the Cochrane Library, you can browse all categories of the Cochrane database sorted alphabetically or sorted by the Cochrane Review by highlighting either of these categories located near the bottom of the Cochrane homepage on the left-hand side.

And if you want to search a particular category (for example, breast cancer), just type in its name in the slot located in the orange box at the top of the homepage. You do NOT need to logon to the site.