Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38725271›Full record

ArticleThe Cleft palate-craniofacial journal : official publication of the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association2025

Analysis and Reporting of Randomized Trials in Cleft Palate Surgery: Learning from the Timing of Primary Surgery (TOPS) Trial.

Matthew Fell, Ginette Phippen, Stephanie van Eeden, David Chong, Marc C Swan, Simon van Eeden, John B Carlin

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In one paragraph

Article in The Cleft palate-craniofacial journal : official publication of the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing 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

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. 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

7 authors.

Matthew FellThe Cleft Collective, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-7776-2877
Ginette PhippenThe Spires Cleft Centre, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust/Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK.
Stephanie van EedenSchool of Education, Communication and Language Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-0902-0564
David ChongPlastic and Maxillofacial Surgery, The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.
Marc C SwanThe Spires Cleft Centre, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust/Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK.
Simon van EedenAlder Hey Children's and Aintree University Hospitals, Liverpool, UK.
John B CarlinMurdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The Timing of Primary Surgery (TOPS) trial was published August 2023 in the New England Journal of Medicine and is a milestone achievement for a study focused on cleft palate. Due to the complexity of outcome reporting in cleft and the rarity of such comparative trials, TOPS presents a useful opportunity to critically review the design, analysis and reporting strategies utilised. This perspective article focused on the inclusion of participants, the choice of the primary outcome measure and the analysis of ordinal data within the trial. Considerations for future comparative studies in cleft care are discussed.

Indexed as

Cleft PalateRandomized Controlled Trials as TopicHumansResearch Designassessmentcleft palateevidence-based practice

Identifiers

PMID38725271
PMCPMC12198463

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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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.