Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38201454›Full record

ReviewCancers2023

Quality of Surgical Outcome Reporting in Randomised Clinical Trials of Multimodal Rectal Cancer Treatment: A Systematic Review.

Joanna Janczak, Kristjan Ukegjini, Stephan Bischofberger, Matthias Turina, Philip C Müller, Thomas Steffen

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Cancers, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–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. Article
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

6 authors.

Joanna JanczakClinic for General and Visceral Surgery, Hospital for the Region Fürstenland Toggenburg, CH-9500 Wil, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0003-0859-8783
Kristjan UkegjiniDepartment of Surgery, Hospital of the Canton of St. Gallen, CH-9007 St. Gallen, Switzerland.
Stephan BischofbergerDepartment of Surgery, Hospital of the Canton of St. Gallen, CH-9007 St. Gallen, Switzerland.ORCID 0009-0009-8434-679X
Matthias TurinaDepartment of Surgery and Transplantation, University Hospital Zurich, CH-8091 Zurich, Switzerland.
Philip C MüllerDepartment of Surgery, Clarunis-University Centre for Gastrointestinal and Hepatopancreatobiliary Diseases, CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0001-8317-3449
Thomas SteffenDepartment of Surgery, Hospital of the Canton of St. Gallen, CH-9007 St. Gallen, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0001-9374-5703

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionRandomised controlled trials (RCTs) continue to provide the best evidence for treatment options, but the quality of reporting in RCTs and the completeness rate of reporting of surgical outcomes and complication data vary widely. The aim of this study was to measure the quality of reporting of the surgical outcome and complication data in RCTs of rectal cancer treatment and whether this quality has changed over time.

methodsEligible articles with the keywords ("rectal cancer" OR "rectal carcinoma") AND ("radiation" OR "radiotherapy") that were RCTs and published in the English, German, Polish, or Italian language were identified by reviewing all abstracts published from 1982 through 2022. Two authors independently screened and analysed all studies. The quality of the surgical outcome and complication data was assessed based on fourteen criteria, and the quality of RCTs was evaluated based on a modified Jadad scale. The primary outcome was the quality of reporting in RCTs and the completeness rate of reporting of surgical results and complication data.

resultsA total of 340 articles reporting multimodal therapy outcomes for 143,576 rectal cancer patients were analysed. A total of 7 articles (2%) met all 14 reporting criteria, 13 met 13 criteria, 27 met from 11 to 12 criteria, 36 met from 9 to 10 criteria, 76 met from 7 to 8 criteria, and most articles met fewer than 7 criteria (mean 5.5 criteria). Commonly underreported criteria included complication severity (15% of articles), macroscopic integrity of mesorectal excision (17% of articles), length of stay (18% of articles), number of lymph nodes (21% of articles), distance between the tumour and circumferential resection margin (CRM) (26% of articles), surgical radicality according to the site of the primary tumour (R0 vs. R1 + R2) (29% of articles), and CRM status (38% of articles).

conclusionInconsistent surgical outcome and complication data reporting in multimodal rectal cancer treatment RCTs is standard. Standardised reporting of clinical and oncological outcomes should be established to facilitate comparing studies and results of related research topics.

Indexed as

chemotherapyradiotherapyrandomised controlled trialsrectal cancersurgical quality

Identifiers

PMID38201454
PMCPMC10778098

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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.