Course Work: Formative Assessment, Literature Search Process (Coursework Sample)

Course Work: Formative Assessment
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Course Work: Formative Assessment
Literature Search Process
The literature search process will premise on the internet using the Medline database. The first step will be the description of the research topic. The topic for the paper is “Identification of difference between utilising cryoablation or microwave radiation in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma undergoing thermal ablation treatment in entire tumour ablation.”
The second step will be breaking down the topic to key concepts to formulate a clear question based on PICO model.
PICOhepatocellular carcinomaANDcryoablationANDmicrowave radiation hepatocellular carcinomacomplete ablation of the tumour
The search on the Medline database will entail the use of the term ‘AND’ to fashion the search together. The next step will be incorporating the primary keywords identified in PICO model. The keywords determined by the search will be a hepatocellular carcinoma, cryoablation, microwave radiation hepatocellular carcinoma and complete ablation of the tumour. The subsequent step will involve formulating of the research topic to a clear, focused question through incorporating the identified keywords in the PICO model. For a systematic research of literature on the Medline, it will be essential to avoid the introduction of limits such as generic limits evident in publication date or language to prevent any bias in the search.
The search for the keywords identified resulted in the following hits on the Medline database.
SearchSearch conducted using the key wordsHits1hepatocellular carcinoma4222cryoablation2733microwave radiation hepatocellular carcinoma194complete ablation of the tumour107
The manual searches to identify grey literature for the study was in the form of interviews. The first interviews were with experienced medical practitioners with specialisation in the hepatocellular carcinoma. The basis of the interviews was to collect first-hand information on the condition. The second interviews were in the form of focused groups with patients with hepatocellular carcinoma undergoing thermal ablation treatment. The basis of the study was to determine from the patients their experiences with the treatment method employed by their doctors in treating the condition.
The key studies found from the search include the following. The first study by Xu, et al., (2004: 53-61), investigates the therapeutic effectiveness of thermal ablation in treating hepatocellular carcinoma based on radiofrequency and microwave energy application. The second is by Lu, et al., (2006: 801-805), which attempts to contrast clinical results of surgical resection (SR) with percutaneous thermal ablation evident in the early stage of hepatocellular carcinoma. The third study by Yin, et al., (2009: 1914-23), tries to evaluate the clinical values visible in ultra-guided percutaneous composite thermal ablation method in the treating of medium and large hepatocellular carcinoma. The fourth study is by Chinnaratha, (2016, 294-301). The study attempts to determine which modality has the best outcomes between microwave ablation and radiofrequency ablation when using percutaneous thermal ablation. The study, which was a meta-analysis, entailed randomised controlled trials as well as observational studies in the comparison of the two techniques. The last study by Yin, et al., (2004: 1029-1032), involves evaluating the therapeutic effectiveness of percutaneous thermal ablation with the curative objective of hepatocellular carcinoma with the measurements of between 3.0 centimetres and 7.0 centimetres.
Methodological Appraisal
The aim of the study presented by Xu et al., (2004: 53-61) was to examine the therapeutic effectiveness of the thermal ablation in the treating of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) based on the radiofrequency (RF) and microwave energy application. The design of the study entailed one hundred and ninety nodules in ninety-seven patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. The patients were eighty-seven male and thirteen females with a mean age of 53.4 years along with a range of between 24 and 74 years. The patients were subject to RF or microwave ablation for four years.
The article explains the fundamental purpose of the study in being capable of satisfying the reason for the scholars engaging in the study. The explanation is evident from the systematic presentation in that details the stages of the study. Moreover, the research study attains the expected results visible from using a research design and approach that permits for the follow-up process based on...