The Cochrane Library contains systematic reviews of health research.  The library is updated regularly and is available free to UK users.

Systematic reviews are extremely important publications because they aim to find and summarise all of the research that has been carried out on a subject.  Readers of the recent story about coffee will understand how important this is.

The recent reviews are listed below, along with a short summary of their findings.  Click the heading to link directly to the full text of the review.

Antibiotic prophylaxis for transrectal prostate biopsy

Zani E et al.  Antibiotics are effective in preventing infectious complications following biopsy. There is no definitive data to confirm that a 3 day course is superior to a 1-day course of treatment, or that multiple-doses are superior to a single dose.

Early versus deferred androgen suppression in the treatment of advanced prostatic cancer

Wilt TJ et al.  "The available information suggests that early androgen suppression for treatment of advanced prostate cancer reduces disease progression and complications due to progression."  However, the reviewers found no significant benefit in terms of survival.

Maximal androgen blockade for advanced prostate cancer

Schmitt B et al.   "Maximum androgen blockade (MAB) produces a modest overall and cancer-specific survival at five years but is associated with increased adverse events and reduced quality of life."  Putting their use of the term "modest" into context, their statistics suggest that for every 21 men given MAB, one death would be prevented at 5 years of follow-up.

Palliation of metastatic bone pain: single fraction versus multifraction radiotherapy

Man Sze W et al.   The review found that no difference between single fraction radiotherapy and multifraction radiotherapy in terms of bone pain. However, patients who had single fraction radiotherapy had more bone fractures and more treatment sessions than patients receiving multifraction radiotherapy.