Meta-Analysis
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World J Meta-Anal. Nov 26, 2014; 2(4): 171-178
Published online Nov 26, 2014. doi: 10.13105/wjma.v2.i4.171
Hydrocephalus after subarachnoid hemorrhage: A meta-analytic comparison of aneurysm treatments
Shih-Shan Lang, Matthew R Sanborn, Connie Ju, Akiff Premjee, Sherman C Stein, Michelle J Smith
Shih-Shan Lang, Matthew R Sanborn, Connie Ju, Akiff Premjee, Sherman C Stein, Michelle J Smith, Department of Neurosurgery, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA 19104, United States
Author contributions: Lang SS, Stein SC and Smith MJ designed the research; Ju C and Premjee A collected the data and assisted in the analysis; Stein SC performed analyses and assisted in the writing; Lang SS, Sanborn MR and Smith MJ wrote most of the paper; all authors participated in editing the manuscript.
Correspondence to: Sherman C Stein, MD, Clinical Professor of Neurosurgery, Department of Neurosurgery, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, United States. sherman.stein@uphs.upenn.edu
Telephone: +1-215-4400919 Fax: +1-215-4403798
Received: April 23, 2014
Revised: August 7, 2014
Accepted: August 27, 2014
Published online: November 26, 2014
Core Tip

Core tip: Several treatment comparisons in clinical medicine are not amenable to randomized controlled trials. The conditions may be too rare for trials to obtain adequate statistical power. There may be a lack of clinical equipoise on the part of patients or clinicians. Comparisons of different treatments are nevertheless still important and can only be addressed by pooling observational data.