Best evidence topic report. Oral or intravenous thiamine in the emergency department.

A short cut review was carried out to establish whether parenteral thiamine was more effective than an oral preparation at replacing thiamine in alcoholics without encephalopathy. Twenty five papers were found using the reported search, of which two presented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these best papers are tabulated. A clinical bottom line is stated.