Systematic review and meta-analysis: techniques and a guide for the academic surgeon

摘要: With the rapidly growing literature across surgical disciplines, there is a corresponding need to critically appraise and summarize currently available evidence so they can be applied appropriately patient care. The interpretation of systematic reviews particularly challenging in cases where few robust clinical trials have been performed address particular question. However, risk bias minimized potentially useful conclusions drawn if strict review methodology adhered to, including an exhaustive search, quality appraisal primary studies, appropriate statistical methodology, assessment confidence estimates bias. Therefore, following article aims to: (I) important features thorough rigorous or meta-analysis for literature; (II) highlight several underused approaches which may yield further interesting insights compared conventional pair-wise data synthesis techniques; (III) propose guide analysis presentation results.