2.2 Study Characteristics
Studies were included in this meta-analysis only after all the following
inclusion criteria were met:
- Randomized controlled trials or cohort studies comparing TVD and other
techniques with no fewer than 10 patients in each group;
- Demographic data and comorbidities of the patients (postoperative, at
discharge or during follow-up) were provided;
- Diagnosis of VSD had been made by transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE)
or transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) prior to surgery;
- At least 1 of the basic outcome criteria (CPB time, cross-clamp time,
postoperative morbidities) was provided;
It is worth noting that an extensive effort was made to minimize the
impact of convert duplicate or metachronous republication from the same
surgical groups on the patient sample size. For these cases, only the
latest studies were included. Also, if a surgical group was found to
have participated in multiple studies, only the study with the largest
patient population will be included.