Open access publisher BioMed Central, UK, has announced that medical journals in the BMC series have started considering case reports again. The move follows the recent departure of the Journal of Medical Case Reports from BioMed Central's portfolio.
BMC Gastroenterology has published the first case report since this policy came to effect. The article, 'The clinicopathologic observation, c-KIT gene mutation and clonal status of gastrointestinal stromal tumor in the sacrum,' by Li Gong and colleagues describes the clinicopathological characterisation of a primary gastrointestinal stromal tumor of the sacrum.
Case reports allow the rapid and concise reporting of previously unknown treatment side effects, novel therapeutic approaches, unusual clinical associations and diagnostic dilemmas. They can make a significant contribution to the literature, particularly for medical specialties such as surgery or emergency medicine, where the development of clinical trials can be ethically or methodologically challenging.
The medical journals in the BMC series consider reports of unusual or exceptional cases that advance clinical knowledge.
