Preferred reporting of case series in surgery; the PROCESS guidelines

Area of Science:

• Surgical Research
• Medical Writing
• Evidence-Based Medicine

Background:

• Case series are a traditional and frequently published format in surgical literature.
• Current reporting practices often miss key data, impacting transparency and quality.
• No established reporting guideline exists specifically for surgical case series.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a standardized reporting guideline for surgical case series.
• To address the identified gaps in data reporting within existing case series publications.

Main Methods:

• A Delphi consensus exercise was employed to identify essential reporting items.
• Items were derived from a systematic review of case series and the SCARE Guidelines.
• Expert surgeons and reporting specialists participated in two rounds of voting using a Likert scale.

Main Results:

• Round one achieved a 49% response rate, defining case series and essential elements.
• Round two saw an 81% response rate after guideline refinement.
• Over 70% of participants approved most items, resulting in an eight-item checklist.

Conclusions:

• The PROCESS Guideline, an eight-item checklist, is introduced to enhance surgical case series reporting quality.
• Adoption of the PROCESS Guideline by the surgical and scholarly community is encouraged to improve transparency and data integrity.