Kwang 1995.
Methods | This was a randomised, internally placebo‐controlled study. Blinding was unclear. It was unclear if intention‐to‐treat analysis was conducted. |
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Participants |
Inclusion criteria of the trial
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Interventions |
The nails and nailbeds were treated with an electron beam (7 mega electron volts). A total of 6 Gy was given in 8 fractions over 8 weeks (1 fraction of 0.75 per week). Follow‐up assessment was performed 3, 6, and 12 months after treatment. |
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Outcomes |
Outcomes of the trial
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Notes | None of the participants received systemic treatment and did not apply any topical medication or clip their nail while on follow up. The only local side‐effect was a temporary deep brownish‐black discolouration of all the electron beam‐treated nails. |
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Risk of bias | ||
Bias | Authors' judgement | Support for judgement |
Random sequence generation (selection bias) | Low risk | Quote: "Active treatment was randomly allocated to the affected nails of one hand, while the other one served as control." Comment: This was probably done. |
Allocation concealment (selection bias) | Unclear risk | Comment: The paper provided insufficient details. |
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) Clinician/ Investigator | Unclear risk | Comment: There was no information about blinding of the clinician. |
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) Participants | Unclear risk | Comment: There was no information about blinding of the participants. |
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) Outcome assessor | Unclear risk | Comment: There was no information about blinding of the outcome assessor. |
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes | Low risk | There were no missing outcome data. |
Selective reporting (reporting bias) | Low risk | All of the expected outcomes were reported |
Other bias | Unclear risk | There was no information about the baseline characteristics. |