Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32258836›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of surgery protocols2020

Characteristics, results, and reporting of contemporary surgical trials: A systematic review and analysis.

N Bryce Robinson, Ajita Naik, Irbaz Hameed, Yongle Ruan, Mohamed Rahouma, Viola Weidenmann, Marco A Zenati, Deepak L Bhatt, Leonard N Girardi, Paul Kurlansky and 5 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in International journal of surgery protocols, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

15 authors.

N Bryce RobinsonDepartment of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
Ajita NaikDepartment of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
Irbaz HameedDepartment of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
Yongle RuanDepartment of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
Mohamed RahoumaDepartment of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
Viola WeidenmannDepartment of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
Marco A ZenatiBHS Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, West Roxbury, MA, USA.
Deepak L BhattDivision of Cardiovascular Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Leonard N GirardiDepartment of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
Paul KurlanskyDepartment of Surgery, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
Shahzad G RajaDepartment of Cardiac Surgery, Harefield Hospital, London, UK.
David MoherOttawa Methods Centre, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
Stephen FremesSchulich Heart Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Joanna ChikweDepartment of Cardiac Surgery, Smidt Heart Institute, Cedars-Siani Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Mario GaudinoDepartment of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionThe complexities and risks inherent to the field of surgery and surgical interventions present unique challenges to the design and analysis of surgical randomized controlled trials (RCT). Prior studies have investigated the practical and methodologic challenges posed by surgical RCTs. To date, however, a comprehensive analysis of the contemporary literature across multiple surgical subspecialties does not exist. In this descriptive analysis, we set out to characterize surgical RCTs over the past 10 years across six major surgical specialties. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A literature search by a medical librarian will be performed to identify all surgical randomized clinical trials published between January 2009 and December 2019 in the two journals with the highest impact factor for six surgical specialties as well as two large general medicine journals. Two reviewers will independently screen the citations retrieved from the literature search and extract data according to a previously described protocol via a pre-defined data collection form. Categorical variables will be reported as counts and percentages. Following assessment of normality, continuous variables will be reported as mean (standard deviation) or median (inter-quartile range). Based on normality of data, independent t-test or the Mann-Whitney U test will be used to compare continuous variables and chi-square and Fisher's exact tests to compare categorical variables. Comparisons across multiple sets will be performed using ANOVA or Kruskak-Wallis tests. Two-sided significance testing will be used and a p-value <0.05 will be considered significant without adjustment for multiple testing. All analyses will be performed using SPSS version 24 and R within RStudio. PROSPERO (ID number: 162797). ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: There are no ethical concerns directly pertinent to this systematic review. The retrieved data will be made available upon request. The study will be written in English and submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

Indexed as

MethodologyOutcomesRandomized control trialSpinSurgery

Identifiers

PMID32258836
PMCPMC7125342

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.