Advice
Appendix: Search strategy and evidence selection
Search strategy
General background, guidelines and technology assessments:
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Broad internet search: Google e.g.: allintitle: glyceryl trinitrate anal fissure AND filetype:pdf
MEDLINE (via Ovid)
Database: Ovid MEDLINE(R) In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations and Ovid MEDLINE(R) <1946 to Present>
Search Strategy:
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(Rectiv or Rectogesic or Glyceryl trinitrate or glyceryltrinitrate).tw. (2121)
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(Topical adj3 nitroglycerin).tw. (144)
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(topical adj3 nitric oxide).tw. (31)
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Nitroglycerin/ (11424)
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1 or 2 or 3 or 4 (12141)
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Fissure in Ano/ (1839)
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(anal adj3 fissure?).tw. (1224)
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(ano adj3 fissure?).tw. (163)
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6 or 7 or 8 (2183)
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5 and 9 (215)
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limit 10 to english language (193)
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exp review/ (1773989)
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(scisearch or psychinfo or psycinfo or medlars or embase or psychlit or psyclit or cinahl or pubmed or medline).ti,ab,sh. (71599)
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((hand adj2 search$) or (manual$ adj2 search$)).ti,ab,sh. (6273)
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((electronic or bibliographic or computeri?ed or online) adj4 database$).ti,ab. (14011)
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(pooling or pooled or mantel haenszel).ti,ab,sh. (46325)
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(peto or dersimonian or der simonian or fixed effect).ti,ab,sh. (2738)
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or/13-17 (122776)
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12 and 18 (55479)
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Meta Analysis/ (38678)
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(meta-analys$ or meta analys$ or metaanalys$).ti,ab,sh. (67568)
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((systematic$ or quantitativ$ or methodologic$) adj5 (review$ or overview$ or synthesis$)).ti,ab,sh. (53736)
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(integrative research review$ or research integration).ti,ab,sh. (83)
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or/20-23 (104679)
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19 or 24 (132915)
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clinical trials, phase iv/ or clinical trials, phase iii/ or randomized controlled trials/ or multicenter studies/ (242591)
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(random$ or placebo$ or ((singl$ or double$ or triple$ or treble$) and (blind$ or mask$))).ti,ab,sh. (879710)
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26 or 27 (977688)
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(animal$ not human$).sh. (3735670)
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28 not 29 (872591)
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25 or 30 (955847)
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11 and 31 (90)
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11 and (cost$ or economic$).tw.
Embase (via Ovid)
Database: Embase <1988 to 2012 December 14>
Search Strategy:
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(Rectiv or Rectogesic or Glyceryl trinitrate or glyceryltrinitrate).tw. (2144)
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(Topical adj3 nitroglycerin).tw. (144)
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(topical adj3 nitric oxide).tw. (37)
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glyceryl trinitrate/ (23129)
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1 or 2 or 3 or 4 (23459)
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Fissure in Ano/ (1971)
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(anal adj3 fissure?).tw. (1407)
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(ano adj3 fissure?).tw. (121)
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6 or 7 or 8 (2145)
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5 and 9 (467)
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limit 10 to english language (401)
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exp review/ (1727013)
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(scisearch or psychinfo or psycinfo or medlars or embase or psychlit or psyclit or cinahl or pubmed or medline).ti,ab,sh. (87309)
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((hand adj2 search$) or (manual$ adj2 search$)).ti,ab,sh. (7260)
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((electronic or bibliographic or computeri?ed or online) adj4 database$).ti,ab. (17583)
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(pooling or pooled or mantel haenszel).ti,ab,sh. (51618)
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(peto or dersimonian or der simonian or fixed effect).ti,ab,sh. (3311)
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or/13-17 (145092)
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12 and 18 (56326)
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Meta Analysis/ (67804)
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(meta-analys$ or meta analys$ or metaanalys$).ti,ab,sh. (96320)
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((systematic$ or quantitativ$ or methodologic$) adj5 (review$ or overview$ or synthesis$)).ti,ab,sh. (90383)
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(integrative research review$ or research integration).ti,ab,sh. (88)
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or/20-23 (159220)
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19 or 24 (186718)
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clinical trials, phase iv/ or clinical trials, phase iii/ or randomized controlled trials/ or multicenter studies/ (27736)
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(random$ or placebo$ or ((singl$ or double$ or triple$ or treble$) and (blind$ or mask$))).ti,ab,sh. (978983)
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26 or 27 (981997)
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(animal$ not human$).sh. (2454674)
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28 not 29 (886030)
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25 or 30 (1004543)
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11 and 31 (161)
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limit 32 to exclude medline journals (14)
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11 and (cost$ or economic$).tw.
Evidence selection
The rationale for this evidence summary was that 0.2% glyceryl trinitrate rectal ointment is sometimes prescribed in an effort to reduce the frequency or severity of headaches associated with using the 0.4% glyceryl trinitrate licensed option. Therefore, the evidence selection focused on studies containing a potential comparison of 0.2% and 0.4% glyceryl trinitrate strengths in relation to effectiveness and headache outcomes.
Both the literature search and a 2012 Cochrane systematic review of non-surgical therapy for anal fissure identified 4 RCTs that form the main body of evidence for this review.
Other possible comparators including 0.2% glyceryl trinitrate ointment against placebo, botulinum injection or surgery were not reviewed.