Literature Search

Medical literature matching criteria established for the eight clinical priority areas chosen by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) was recovered from two different sources, PubMed and EMBASE, using standard Mesh, EMTREE and keyword search terms for each of the clinical areas in 16 separate searches. Date limits were used in the searches. Only the years 2006 and more recent were covered in each search. Search strategies used will be posted as PDF attachments to this page.

The separate search results from each database were combined in an EndNote library and deduplicated using EndNote. Further selection was performed on each library to remove conference abstracts, case reports, animal studies, and narrative reviews. Papers calling themselves systematic reviews that contained no meta-analysis of data were also excluded.

Imaging-related clinical practice guidelines were also identified through the National Guideline Clearinghouse and by searching the websites of various professional societies for published policies and statements. All relevant documentation for local best practice guidelines were also obtained from various healthcare institutions. Imaging-related AUC were obtained primarily from two public sources, the American College of Radiology Appropriateness Criteria database and the American College of Cardiology Appropriate Use Criteria list.

From all these recommendation sources, we prioritized grading recommendations that were included in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) priority clinical conditions, and recommendations from the Choosing Wisely campaign.