Table 1. Quality assessment of included studies.
| Author | Focal intervention | Year | 1. Clearly stated aim | 2. Inclusion of consecutive patients | 3. Prospective data collection | 4. Endpoint appropriate to study aim | 5. Unbiased evaluation of endpoints | 6. Follow-up period appropriate to major endpoint | 7. Loss to follow-up not exceeding 5% | 8. Prospective calculation of the study size | *9. An adequate control group | *10.Contemporary groups | *11. Baseline equivalence of groups | *12. Statistical analyses adapted to study design | Total score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hsu et al. (39) | sBT | 2013 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 11/16 |
| Peters et al. (40) | sBT | 2014 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 12/16 |
| Kunogi et al. (41) | sBT | 2016 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 11/16 |
| Maenhout et al. (42) | sBT | 2017 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 11/16 |
| Murgic et al. (43) | sBT | 2018 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | – | – | – | – | 15/16 |
| Eisenberg and Shinohara (44) | sCT | 2008 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 10/16 |
| De Castro Abreu et al. (38) | sCT | 2013 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 15/24 |
| Wenske et al. (45) | sCT | 2013 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 12/16 |
| Bomers et al. (46) | sCT | 2013 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 13/16 |
| Li et al. (47) | sCT | 2015 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 10/16 |
| Overduin et al. (48) | sCT | 2017 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 12/16 |
| Kongnyuy et al. (49) | sCT | 2017 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 11/16 |
| Ahmed et al. (50) | sHIFU | 2012 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 12/16 |
| Baco et al. (51) | sHIFU | 2014 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 13/16 |
| Kanthabalan et al. (52) | sHIFU | 2017 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 12/16 |
*, additional criteria in the case of comparative study. sBT, salvage brachytherapy; sCT, salvage cryotherapy; sHIFU, salvage high-intensity focused ultrasound.