SynthesisWorld journal of surgery2012
Evidence-based surgery: barriers, solutions, and the role of evidence synthesis.
Synthesis in World journal of surgery, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Induced Bias Due to Crossover Within Randomized Controlled Trials in Surgical Oncology: A Meta-regression Analysis of Minimally Invasive versus Open Surgery for the Treatment of Gastrointestinal Cancer.Annals of surgical oncology · 2018Pooled it
- Robotic surgery: disruptive innovation or unfulfilled promise? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the first 30 years.Surgical endoscopy · 2016Pooled it
- Near infrared autofluorescence for parathyroid detection during thyroid and parathyroid surgery: a valuable medical device but not a substitute for surgical experience and volume.Gland surgery · 2026Article
- Cutting through the p-value: evaluating clinical relevance in surgical literature analyzing the approaches for inguinal hernia repair.Surgical endoscopy · 2025Article
- Determinants of surgical department research success.ANZ journal of surgery · 2025Article
- Novel Strategies for Managing Retropharyngeal Lymph Node Metastases in Head and Neck and Thyroid Cancer with Transoral Robotic Surgery (TORS).Annals of surgical oncology · 2022Review
- Guidelines, guidelines and more guidelines for haemorrhoid treatment: A review to sort the wheat from the chaff.Colorectal disease : the official journal of the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland · 2022Review
- The synthesis of scientific shreds of evidence: a critical appraisal on systematic review and meta-analysis methodology.Journal of thoracic disease · 2020Review
- Modern Plastic Surgical Practice: Technical Competence Alone Is Not Enough.World journal of plastic surgery · 2020Review
- Translating Hand Surgery Evidence to Policy and Practice.Hand clinics · 2020Review
- Evaluating the implications of Brexit for research collaboration and policy: a network analysis and simulation study.BMJ open · 2019Article
- Risk of bias judgements and strength of conclusions in meta-evidence from the Cochrane Colorectal Cancer Group.Systematic reviews · 2019Review
- The changing tides of Irish orthopaedic research.Irish journal of medical science · 2019Article
- ASO Author Reflections: Induced Bias Due to Crossover Within Randomized Controlled Trials in Surgical Oncology.Annals of surgical oncology · 2018Article
- Patient-specific devices and population-level evidence: evaluating therapeutic interventions with inherent variation.Medicine, health care, and philosophy · 2018Article
- Robotics in cardiac surgery.Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England · 2018Review
- Robotics in otorhinolaryngology - head and neck surgery.Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England · 2018Review
- Barriers and facilitators experienced in collaborative prospective research in orthopaedic oncology: A qualitative study.Bone & joint research · 2017Article
- Network analysis of surgical innovation: Measuring value and the virality of diffusion in robotic surgery.PloS one · 2017Article
- Esophageal surgery in minimally invasive era.World journal of gastrointestinal surgery · 2016Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSurgery is a rapidly evolving field, making the rigorous testing of emerging innovations vital. However, most surgical research fails to employ randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and has particularly been based on low-quality study designs. Subsequently, the analysis of data through meta-analysis and evidence synthesis is particularly difficult.
methodsThrough a systematic review of the literature, this article explores the barriers to achieving a strong evidence base in surgery and offers potential solutions to overcome the barriers.
resultsMany barriers exist to evidence-based surgical research. They include enabling factors, such as funding, time, infrastructure, patient preference, ethical issues, and additionally barriers associated with specific attributes related to researchers, methodologies, or interventions. Novel evidence synthesis techniques in surgery are discussed, including graphics synthesis, treatment networks, and network meta-analyses that help overcome many of the limitations associated with existing techniques. They offer the opportunity to assess gaps and quantitatively present inconsistencies within the existing evidence of RCTs.
conclusionsPoorly or inadequately performed RCTs and meta-analyses can give rise to incorrect results and thus fail to inform clinical practice or revise policy. The above barriers can be overcome by providing academic leadership and good organizational support to ensure that adequate personnel, resources, and funding are allocated to the researcher. Training in research methodology and data interpretation can ensure that trials are conducted correctly and evidence is adequately synthesized and disseminated. The ultimate goal of overcoming the barriers to evidence-based surgery includes the improved quality of patient care in addition to enhanced patient outcomes.
Indexed as
Identifiers
22535211What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.