On 2014 Aug 12, Ryan Radecki commented:

Post-publication commentary:

"Just Another Advertisement for tPA"

As with last week's coverage of the updated Cochrane Systematic Review for tPA in acute ischemic stroke, the key question is: what’s new?

The first pooled meta-analysis, published in The Lancet in 2004, included NINDS, ECASS I, ECASS II, and ATLANTIS. It was subsequently updated in 2010 to add ECASS III and EPITHET. Now, these authors have decided to add IST-3.

I am actually a huge fan of individual-patient meta-analyses. Depending on the data availability, the similarity of trial protocols, and other issues associated with heterogeneity, this is the gold-standard for aggregating data and increasing power. Individual-patient analyses also allow for more reliable exploration of subgroup effects not otherwise possible through regular meta-analyses or systematic reviews.

But, at the crux of it, a meta-analysis is only as good as the included trials – and this is a topic much debated over the last twenty years....

http://www.emlitofnote.com/2014/08/just-another-advertisement-for-tpa.html

On 2014 Aug 12, Ryan Radecki commented:

Post-publication commentary:

"Just Another Advertisement for tPA"

As with last week's coverage of the updated Cochrane Systematic Review for tPA in acute ischemic stroke, the key question is: what’s new?

The first pooled meta-analysis, published in The Lancet in 2004, included NINDS, ECASS I, ECASS II, and ATLANTIS. It was subsequently updated in 2010 to add ECASS III and EPITHET. Now, these authors have decided to add IST-3.

I am actually a huge fan of individual-patient meta-analyses. Depending on the data availability, the similarity of trial protocols, and other issues associated with heterogeneity, this is the gold-standard for aggregating data and increasing power. Individual-patient analyses also allow for more reliable exploration of subgroup effects not otherwise possible through regular meta-analyses or systematic reviews.

But, at the crux of it, a meta-analysis is only as good as the included trials – and this is a topic much debated over the last twenty years....

http://www.emlitofnote.com/2014/08/just-another-advertisement-for-tpa.html