Table 1.

The Modified Coleman Methodology Score.

Section	Number or Factor	Score
Part A (only 1 score for each section possible)
1.  Study size: number of patients	>60	10
	41-60	7
	20-40	4
	<20 or not stated	0
2.  Mean follow-up (months)	>24	5
	12-24	2
	<12 or not stated or unclear	0
3.  Number of different surgical procedures included in each reported outcome	One surgical procedure	10
	More than one surgical procedure, but >90% of subjects undergoing the one procedure	7
	Not stated or unclear or <90% of subjects undergoing the one procedure	0
4.  Type of study	Randomized controlled trial	15
	Prospective cohort study	10
	Retrospective cohort study	0
5.  Diagnostic certainty	In all	5
	In >80%	3
	In <80%	0
6.  Description of surgical procedure given	Adequate (technique stated and necessary details of that type of procedure given)	5
	Fair (technique only stated without elaboration)	3
	Inadequate or not stated or unclear	0
7.  Description of postoperative rehabilitation	Well described	10
	Not adequately described	5
	Protocol not reported	0
Part B (scores possible for each option in each section)
1.  Outcome criteria	Outcome measures clearly defined	2
	Timing of outcome assessment clearly stated	2
	Use of outcome criteria that has reported good reliability	3
	Use of outcome with good sensitivity	3
2.  Procedure for assessing outcomes	Subjects recruited (results not taken from surgeon’s files)	5
	Investigator independent of surgeon	4
	Written assessment	3
	Completion of assessment by subjects themselves with minimal investigator assistance	3
4.  Description of subject selection process	Selection criteria reported and unbiased	5
	Recruitment rate reported >80%	5
	Recruitment rate reported <80%	3
	Eligible subjects not included in the study satisfactorily accounted for or 100% recruitment	5