Table 1.
Methodological quality assessment (QUADAS‐2 criteria)
| Author, year | Risk of bias | Applicability concerns | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patient selection | Index test | Reference standard | Flow and timing | Patient selection | Index test | Reference standard | ||||||
| Consecutive or random sample of patients enrolled | Case–control design avoided | Inappropriate exclusion avoided | Blind interpretation | Prespecified threshold | Correctly classify PCS | Appropriate interval (index and reference standard) | The same reference standard in all patients | All patients included in analysis | ||||
| Ultrasonography | ||||||||||||
| Adams, 198726 | Ua | H | U | L | H | U | U | L | H | U | U | U |
| Campbell, 200320 | L | L | L | L | H | L | L | L | L | L | L | L |
| Giacchetto, 199024 | U | L | U | U | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L |
| Halligan, 200023 | L | H | L | H | H | L | L | H | L | U | L | L |
| Park, 200411 | U | H | L | L | U | L | L | H | L | L | L | L |
| Rae, 199025 | U | L | U | U | H | U | U | L | U | U | U | U |
| Magnetic resonance imaging | ||||||||||||
| Asciutto, 200812 | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L |
| Meneses, 201027 | U | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L |
| Yang, 201214 | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L |
PCS, pelvic congestion syndrome; QUADAS‐2, Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies.
a
L, low risk; H, high risk; U, unclear risk.