Examining the Evidence in Anesthesia Literature: A Critical Appraisal of Systematic Reviews
Anesthesia & AnalgesiaPublished 1 March 2001
P. Choi, Stephen H. Halpern, Nariman Malik, Alejandro R. Jadad, Martin R. Tramèr, Bernhard Walder
Citations76
SJR quartileQ1
SJR score1.16
SNIP1.63
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TL;DR
A systematic review of published systematic reviews in perioperative medicine to summarize the areas currently covered by this review found that the majority of the areas covered are still under review.
Abstract
The quality of systematic reviews relating to perioperative medicine was examined systematically and found to be similar in quality to those in other specialties. Adoption of recently published criteria on writing and methods could further improve this type of literature.
Keywords
MedicineArts and Humanities
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Acta Anaesthesiologica ScandinavicaEpidural fentanyl, adrenaline and clonidine as adjuvants to local anaesthetics for surgical analgesia: meta‐analyses of analgesia and side‐effects
59 Citations1998Michele Curatolo, Steen Petersen‐Felix +2 more
A meta‐analysis was performed to clarify the risk/benefit ratio of adding fentanyl, adrenaline and clonidine to epidural local anaesthetics for improving intraoperative analgesia.
Anesthesia & AnalgesiaStatistical Methods in Anesthesia Articles
56 Citations1985Michael J. Avram, C. A. Shanks +3 more
Simple criteria were used to evaluate the statistical analyses in 243 articles from two American anesthesia journals published in the latter six months of 1981 and 1983, and fifteen percent of the articles were without major errors in statistical analysis.
Anesthesia & AnalgesiaPrevention of Succinylcholine Myalgias
55 Citations1990Nathan L. Pace
Atracurium, dtubocurarine, gallamine, pancuronium,Diazepam, and lidocaine all significantly decreased the frequency of myalgias by about 30%.
Cochrane Database of Systematic ReviewsProphylactic intravenous preloading for regional analgesia in labour
51 Citations2004G Justus Hofmeyr, Allan M Cyna +1 more
There are methodological limitations in the only trial of preloading with intravenous fluids prior to epidural analgesia during labour, however preloading may have beneficial fetal and maternal effects in healthy women.
Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular SurgeryPlatelet-rich plasmapheresis in cardiac surgery: A meta-analysis of the effect on transfusion requirements
49 Citations1998Fraser D. Rubens, D. Fergusson +4 more
Although platelet-rich plasmapheresis appeared effective in decreasing the proportion of patients receiving transfusions after cardiac operations, the quality of most of the supporting trials was low and the benefit was small in trials of good quality.
British Journal of AnaesthesiaMeta-analysis of the efficacy of extradural clonidine to relieve postoperative pain: an impossible task
46 Citations1998Stéphane Armand, A Langlade +6 more
Proposals for a standard study design are made to help comparison between studies involving extradural clonidine and postoperative pain, and the data from these studies were difficult to interpret because of the tremendous variation in variables.
European Journal of Clinical PharmacologySingle-dose dextropropoxyphene in post-operative pain: a quantitative systematic review
37 Citations1998Sally Collins, Jayne Edwards +2 more
Ibuprofen 400 mg has a lower (better) number-needed-to-treat than both dextropropoxyphene 65‚¬mg plus paracetamol 650mg and tramadol 100’mg but with a lower incidence of adverse effects.
European Journal of AnaesthesiologyPharmacological prophylaxis of bleeding in surgical patients treated with aspirin
31 Citations1997Per Anders Flordal
It is shown that pre-operative aspirin increases blood loss and transfusion requirements in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting and both aprotinin and desmopressin are effective in counteracting this.
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