Safety of Simultaneous Hepatectomy and Splenectomy in the Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Complicated with Hypersplenism: A Meta-analysis

Table 2

Quality assessment of studies pooled in the meta-analysis based on the modified Newcastle-Ottawa Scale judgment.

Study	Selection^†	Comparability^‡	Outcome assessment^§	Quality judgment
Cao et al. [19]
Li et al. [12]
Luo et al. [24]
Oh et al. [25]
Wang et al. [27]
Luo et al. [23]
Zhang et al. [13]
Feng et al. [21]
Shan et al. [26]
Huo et al. [22]
Chen et al. [20]
Bi et al. [17]
Cai et al. [18]

^†Selection: (1) representativeness of the exposed cohort: (a) truly representative of the average HCC patients with hypersplenism in the community (one asterisk); (b) somewhat representative of the average HCC patients with hypersplenism in the community (one asterisk); (c) selected group of users, e.g., nurses, volunteers (no asterisk); and (d) no description of the derivation of the cohort (no asterisk). (2) Selection of the nonexposed cohort: (a) drawn from the same community as the exposed cohort (one asterisk), (b) drawn from a different source (no asterisk), and (c) no description of the derivation of the nonexposed cohort (no asterisk). (3) Ascertainment of exposure to (a) secure record (e.g., surgical records) (one asterisk), (b) structured interview (one asterisk), (c) written self-report (no asterisk), and (d) no description (no asterisk). (4) Demonstration that the outcome of interest was not present at the start of the study: (a) yes (one asterisk) and (b) no (no asterisk). ^‡Comparability: (1) Comparability of cohorts on the basis of the design or analysis: (a) study controls for liver function classification (one asterisk) and (b) study controls for any additional factor (age, gender, tumor size, tumor location, TNM stage, etc.) (one asterisk). ^§Outcome: (1) assessment of the outcome: (a) independent blind assessment (one asterisk), (b) record linkage (one asterisk), (c) self-report (no asterisk), and (d) no description (no asterisk). (2) Was the follow-up long enough for outcomes to occur: (a) yes (select an adequate follow-up period for the outcome of interest) (one asterisk) and (b) no (no asterisk). (3) Adequacy of the follow-up of cohorts: (a) complete follow-up (all subjects accounted) (one asterisk); (b) subjects lost to follow-up unlikely to introduce bias (small number lost), >80% follow-up, or description of those lost (one asterisk); (c) follow-up and no description of those lost (no asterisk); and (d) no statement (no asterisk).