超声治疗：效益研究回顾

CRD COMMENTARY:

The aims were stated and the inclusion criteria were defined in terms of the study design, intervention, participants, and broadly in terms of the outcome. The inclusion criteria included adequate controls and adequate blinding of observers, participants and therapists. However, studies with neither active ultrasound nor placebo ultrasound appear to have been included and it is not clear how participants in such studies can be adequately blinded. Several relevant sources of studies were searched, although the keywords used were not reported and the physical therapy journals searched were not specified. Restricting the included studies to English language publications may have resulted in the omission of other studies. The methods used to select the studies were partially described and reasons were given for those studies excluded. It was not reported whether the two authors selected the studies independently or whether there were any disagreements between the authors. The included studies were restricted to RCTs meeting all the specified validity criteria.
The tabulated information on the included studies was limited to the medical condition of the participants and some details of the ultrasound intervention. The information on the sample size, duration of intervention, number of sessions, outcomes, methods used to assess outcomes, and results of all the included studies was lacking. The methods used to extract the data were not described. A narrative synthesis was appropriate given the clinical heterogeneity among the studies, and some potential causes of differences in results among studies were discussed. More complete details of the methods used to conduct the review, and of the individual studies, are required before the evidence can be considered adequate to support the authors' conclusions.