The comparison group is the current reference drug, test, or technique that is the gold standard for this type of disease or situation or patients without the prognostic factor of interest. This item will be the control group. Technical aspects and criteria for diagnosis or treatment of the disease must be outlined. When the research question involves safety, there is no comparison group. Questions to be answered by the reviewers are:
1) do the authors adequately describe the treatment (including postoperative protocol) for each treatment arm;
2) are the intervention and comparison sufciently detailed to ensure their applicability.
3) is the comparison useful for the clinical question?