Case reports are described as: a narrative that describes for medical, scientific or educational purposes and a medical problem experienced by one or more patients.1

EJHP has received a number of case reports over the last couple of years. The majority of these have not made it to publication for a variety of reasons: they are by their nature anecdotal and so an unreliable source of evidence, they frequently lack rigour, they can describe a scenario which is relatively common and finally we have not had a journal policy. On the positive side, they can be used to highlight both positive benefits and negative aspects of an intervention.

In the light of this, the place of case reports was discussed at the most recent editors board of European …

Correspondence to Professor Phil Wiffen, Pain Research Unit, Churchill Hospital, Oxford OX3 7LE, UK; phil.wiffen{at}ndcn.ox.ac.uk