Intralesional steroid is beneficial in benign refractory esophageal strictures: A meta-analysis

Table 2 Results of the Newcastle-Ottawa quality assessment scale for cross-over and cohort studies

	Item 1	Item 2	Item 3	Item 4	Item 5	Item 6	Item 7	Item 8
Ahn et al[21] 2015	-	N/A	+	+	-	?	+	?	Modified NOS
Kochhar et al[21] 2015	-	N/A	+	+	-	?	+	+	Modified NOS
Kochhar et al[21] 2015	+	N/A	+	+	-	?	+	+	Modified NOS
Nijhawan et al[21] 2015	-	N/A	+	+	-	-	+	+	Modified NOS
Orive-Calza et al[21] 2015	-	-	+	?	+	+	+	?	NOS

Item 1: Were the cases randomly selected subjects with BRES without significant exclusion criteria? Item 2: Were the controls randomly selected subjects with BRES without significant exclusion criteria? Item 3: Was there an endoscopic or radiological diagnosis of BRES? Item 4: Was the diagnosis of non-refractory BES excluded? Item 5: Were the cases and controls comparable? Item 6: Were the subjects and investigators blinded to the intralesional steroid treatment? Item 7: Was follow-up long enough (≥ 6 mo) for outcomes to occur? Item 8: Was there complete follow up of all subjects enrolled? For the above detailed items an answer of yes represented low risk, no represented high risk, while lack of description represented unknown risk of bias (- = high risk of bias; ? = unknown or moderate risk of bias; + = low risk of bias). BRES: Benign refractory esophageal stricture; BES: Benign esophageal stricture.