Challenges in systematic reviews of therapeutic devices and procedures

The authors discuss 3 challenges in conducting and interpreting any systematic review that are particularly relevant for systematic reviews of therapeutic devices or surgical procedures: 1) inclusion or exclusion of grey literature, 2) the role of nonrandomized studies, and 3) issues in applying the results to clinical care that are unique to the surgical and therapeutic device literature. The authors also discuss empirical evidence related to these topics and illustrate how reviewers in the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Evidence-based Practice Center program have dealt with these challenges in developing evidence reports for decision makers and clinicians about therapeutic devices or surgical procedures.