'Efficacy and safety of imiquimod 5% cream for basal cell carcinoma: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trial'; a critical appraisal.

CONCLUSIONS: The authors state that 'imiquimod significantly exhibited benefit effect in improving the histological/composite clearance rates' compared with other treatments and they suggest it could be used as first choice treatment for patients with BCC. COMMENT: The main concerns related to this article are that the research question is replicative, it makes little sense to combine all BCC types in a meta-analysis, and it also makes no sense to combine an active treatment against a combination of vehicle and other active treatments. There are also concerns about bias related to the use of the same study data more than once in a meta-analysis. Furthermore, we have identified an example of covert duplication publication, which further compounds the profusion of misleading systematic reviews. PMID: 31977075 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: The British Journal of Dermatology - Category: Dermatology Authors: Tags: Br J Dermatol Source Type: research