The Specialised Register

What is the Breast Cancer Specialised Register?
The Specialised Register is a continuously growing database of randomised controlled trials (RCT's) and controlled clinical trials (CCT's) relevant to breast cancer. A detailed search strategy has been developed to assist identification of published and unpublished trials relevant to breast cancer to be incorporated into the register. The search is conducted from a variety of sources including:
  • Medline
  • Embase
  • Physician data query (PDQ)
  • The Cochrane Library and
  • Various on line trial registers

    RCT's and CCT's are also sourced by hand searching paper copies of journals.

    Who maintains the Specialised Register?
    The funding received through the Australian Department of Health and Ageing allows the Cochrane Breast Cancer Group to employ a full time Trials Search Coordinator (TSC). The TSC is responsible for the ongoing maintenance of the Specialised Register. This includes continually collecting RCT's and CCT's from the sources listed above, and coding all trials collected for the Specialised Register.

     Coding the trials on the Specialised Register
    Every trial that is entered onto the Specialised Register is coded according to the stage of breast cancer, type of intervention, and study type. There is a specific procedure used to code references, which is described in the Breast Cancer Group's module on the Cochrane Library.The codes are entered onto the database to facilitate searching for trials for systematic reviews.

    What is the Specialised Register used for?
     The RCT's and CCT's are kept and made available to authors to use in systematic reviews. The TSC can conduct specifically designed searches on the register that will retrieve trials relevant to systematic review questions. Searches on the register are not exclusively performed for use in systematic reviews. Other bodies such as the Breast Cancer Foundation and the Cochrane Cancer network, request searches for various projects.

    The RCT's and CCT's on the Specialised Register are submitted to The Cochrane Library every quarter for inclusion in The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials database.

    Who has access to the Specialised Register?
    Access to the Specialised Register is obtained through The Cochrane Library (CENTRAL database) or by contacting the TSC.  Authors are encouraged to contact the TSC as the TSC can design a search using internal keywords that are used to code every reference on the register (The Cochrane Library do not publish the Cochrane Breast Cancer Group's internal keywords). This ensures that the needs of the authors are met by maximising the use of the register and its keywords.

    The TSC formulates and undertakes a register search for every protocol registered with the Cochrane Breast Cancer Group.

    How do authors receive the search results for a systematic review?
    The search results are sent to authorss in an electronic format via email. They can be sent in two different formats:
    1. A bibliography as a text file
    2. A Reference Manager database (if the authors have access to this software)

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