Towards a core outcome set for cranioplasty following traumatic brain injury and stroke 'A systematic review of reported outcomes'

H Mee; A Castano Leon; F Anwar; K Grieve; N Owen; C Turner; G Whiting; E Viaroli; I Timofeev; A Helmy; A Kolias; P Hutchinson

doi:10.1016/j.bas.2023.101735

Towards a core outcome set for cranioplasty following traumatic brain injury and stroke 'A systematic review of reported outcomes'

Brain Spine. 2023 May 15:3:101735. doi: 10.1016/j.bas.2023.101735. eCollection 2023.

Authors

H Mee^{1

2

3}, A Castano Leon⁴, F Anwar³, K Grieve¹, N Owen¹, C Turner¹, G Whiting¹, E Viaroli¹, I Timofeev¹, A Helmy¹, A Kolias^{1

2}, P Hutchinson^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge & Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK.
² NIHR Global Health Research Group on Neurotrauma, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
³ Department of Rehabilitation, Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK.
⁴ Neurosurgery Department, Research Institute i+12-CIBERESP, Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain.

Abstract

Background: There is wide-ranging published literature around cranioplasty following traumatic brain injury (TBI) and stroke, but the heterogeneity of outcomes limits the ability for meta-analysis. Consensus on appropriate outcome measures has not been reached, and given the clinical and research interest, a core outcome set (COS) would be beneficial.

Objectives: To collate outcomes currently reported across the cranioplasty literature which will subsequently be used in developing a cranioplasty COS.

Methods: This systematic review adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. All full-text English studies with more than ten patients (prospective) or more than 20 patients (retrospective) published after 1990 examining outcomes in CP were eligible for inclusion.

Results: The review included 205 studies from which 202 verbatim outcomes were extracted, grouped into 52 domains, and categorised into one or more of the OMERACT 2.0 framework core area(s). The total numbers of studies that reported outcomes in the core areas are 192 (94%) pathophysiological manifestations/ 114 (56%) resource use/economic impact/ 94 (46%) life impact/mortality 20 (10%). In addition, there are 61 outcome measures used in the 205 studies across all domains.

Conclusion: This study shows considerable heterogeneity in the types of outcomes used across the cranioplasty literature, demonstrating the importance and necessity of developing a COS to help standardise reporting across the literature.

Keywords: Core outcome set; Cranioplasty; Outcome domains; Outcome measures; Stroke; Traumatic brain injury.