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. 2019 Jan 11;5:5. doi: 10.1186/s40814-019-0392-y

Table 5.

Performance matrix for necrosis outcomes

Criteria Outcome measure
Necrosis yes/no Depth (SKIN score) Total necrosis area
Subjectivity of measurement (κ [95% CI] for the primary and secondary clinical assessor*) 0.84 [0.62 to 1.00] 0.79 [0.58 to 0.99] 0.57 [0.21 to 0.94]
Total sample size required to demonstrate statistically significant difference between treatment and control group (based on observed data) 1096 1556 2866
Proportion of patients with observed response** 95.0% 89.4% 88.7%

*For total necrosis area, we include κ where area is assumed to be 0 mm2 when no necrosis present is recorded. For necrosis yes/no, the sample size was determined for a two-sample proportion test of 26% (heated) versus 35% (control). For total area, the sample size was computed using non-parametric methods for non-normally distributed continuous data. For necrosis, depth sample size calculation for ordered categorical data was performed using the observed proportions in each category (71, 18, 11 and 0% versus 78, 14, 6 and 2%). All sample size calculations use a 5% level of significance and 90% power. **For total necrosis area, area is assumed to be 0 mm2 where no necrosis present is recorded