Interventional procedure overview of laparoscopic insertion of an inactive implant for gastro-oesophageal reflux disease

Appendix A: Methods and literature search strategy

Methods and literature search strategy 

NICE has identified studies and reviews relevant to laparoscopic insertion of an inactive implant for gastro-oesophageal reflux disease from the medical literature. Relevant published studies identified during consultation or resolution that are published after this date may also be considered for inclusion. 

Search strategy design and peer review 

This search report is informed by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses literature search extension (PRISMA-S). A NICE information specialist ran the literature searches on 03 June 2024. See the search strategy history for the full search strategy for each database. The principal search strategy was developed in MEDLINE ALL (Ovid interface). It was adapted for use in each of the databases listed in table 4a, taking into account the database's size, search functionality and subject coverage. The MEDLINE ALL strategy was quality assured by a NICE senior information specialist. All translated search strategies were peer reviewed to ensure their accuracy. The quality assurance and peer review procedures were adapted from the Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies (PRESS) 2015 evidence-based checklist. 

Review management 

The search results were managed in EPPI Reviewer version 5 (EPPIR5). Duplicates were removed in EPPIR5 using a 2-step process. First, automated deduplication was done using a high-value algorithm. Second, manual deduplication was used to assess low-probability matches. All decisions about inclusion, exclusion and deduplication were recorded and stored. 

Limits and restrictions 

The search was not limited by date or language. The CENTRAL database search removed trial registry records and conference material. The limit to remove animal studies in the searches is standard NICE practice, which has been adapted from Dickersin K, Scherer R, Lefebvre C (1994) Systematic Reviews: Identifying relevant studies for systematic reviews. BMJ 309(6964): 1286. 

Main search

Table 4a Main search results 

Search strategy history  

MEDLINE ALL search strategy 

1 , exp Gastroesophageal Reflux/ , 29,987  

2 , ((gastro-esophag* or gastro-oesophag* or gastro?esophag* or oesophag* or esophag*) adj4 reflux*).tw. , 32,987  

3 , Esophageal Motility Disorders/ , 2,261  

4 , ((oesophag* or esophag*) adj4 (motilit* or dysmotilit* or disorder* or funct*)).tw. , 9,274  

5 , (gord or gerd).tw. , 11,641  

6 , Heartburn/ , 2,323  

7 , ((heart adj1 burn) or heartburn or pyros?s or (water adj1 brash) or waterbrash or (acid adj1 brash) or acidbrash).tw. , 6,183  

8 , Barrett Esophagus/ , 8,880  

9 , (barrett* adj4 (esophag* or oesophag* or dysplas* or syndrom*)).tw. , 10,274  

10 , Esophageal Sphincter, Lower/ , 1,907  

11 , (lower adj4 (gastro-esophag* or gastro-oesophag* or gastro?esophag* or oesophag* or esophag*) adj4 sphincter*).tw. , 6,003  

12 , (gastric adj4 (reflux* or regurgitat* or acid* or juice*)).tw. , 25,048  

13 , ((acid or bile) adj4 (reflux* or indigest* or flow-back or flowback or back-flow or backflow)).tw. , 5,523  

14 , Dyspepsia/ , 9,412  

15 , dyspepsi*.tw. , 12,815  

16 , Hernia, Hiatal/ , 7,001  

17 , ((oesophag* or esophag* or para?esophag* or hiat*) adj4 hernia*).tw. , 8,844  

18 , deglutition disorder/ , 24,703  

19 , (Deglutit* adj4 disord*).tw. , 341  

20 , dysphag*.tw. , 36,177  

21 , or/1-20 , 143,991  

22 , "Prostheses and Implants"/ , 50,486  

23 , Prosthesis Implantation/ , 15,741  

24 , Prosthesis Design/ , 61,937  

25 , (prosthe* adj4 (design* or implant*)).tw. , 22,984  

26 , (implantable adj2 device).tw. , 2,961  

27 , ((anti-reflux or non-active) adj4 implant*).tw. , 24  

28 , or/22-27 , 138,552  

29 , 21 and 28 , 870  

30 , refluxstop.tw. , 6  

31 , 29 or 30 , 873  

32 , animals/ not humans/ , 5,192,576  

33 , 31 not 32 , 833 

Embase search strategy 

1, exp gastroesophageal reflux/, 80,534 

2, ((gastro-esophag* or gastro-oesophag* or gastro?esophag* or oesophag* or esophag*) adj4 reflux*).tw., 51,332 

3, esophagus function disorder/, 3,016 

4, ((oesophag* or esophag*) adj4 (motilit* or dysmotilit* or disorder* of funct*)).tw., 8,340 

5, (gord or gerd).tw., 24,694 

6, heartburn/, 17,717 

7, ((heart adj1 burn) or heartburn or pyros?s or (water adj1 brash) or waterbrash or (acid adj1 brash) or acidbrash).tw., 11,398 

8, Barrett esophagus/, 20,102 

9, (barrett* adj4 (esophag* or oesophag* or dysplas* or syndrom*)).tw., 17,658 

10, lower esophagus sphincter/, 14,133 

11, (lower adj4 (gastro-esophag* or gastro-oesophag* or gastro?esophag* or oesophag* or esophag*) adj4 sphincter*).tw., 9,433 

12, (gastric adj4 (reflux* or regurgitat* or acid* or juice*)).tw., 29,181 

13, ((acid or bile) adj4 (reflux* or indigest* or flow-back or flowback or back-flow or backflow)).tw., 9,349 

14, Dyspepsia/, 40,639 

15, dyspepsi*.tw., 20,118 

16, hiatus hernia/, 15,657 

17, ((oesophag* or esophag* or para?esophag* or hiat*) adj4 hernia*).tw., 13,006 

18, dysphagia/, 95,461 

19, (Deglutit* adj4 disord*).tw., 356 

20, dysphag*.tw., 63,413 

21, or/1-20, 283,966 

22, prosthesis/, 34,291 

23, prosthesis implantation/, 3,383 

24, prosthesis design/, 8,182 

25, (prosthes* adj4 (design* or implant*)).tw., 20,535 

26, (implantable adj2 device).tw., 4,797 

27, ((anti-reflux or non-active) adj4 implant*).tw., 35 

28, or/22-27, 65,776 

29, 21 and 28, 499 

30, refluxstop.tw,dv,dm., 25 

31, 29 or 30, 514 

32, Nonhuman/ not human/, 5,456,142 

33, 31 not 32, 506 

34, (conference abstract* or conference review or conference paper or conference proceeding).db,pt,su., 5,959,494 

35, 33 not 34, 335 

36, 33 and 34, 171 

 
(CDSR and CENTRAL) search strategy 

#1 MeSH descriptor: [Gastroesophageal Reflux] explode all trees 2561  

#2 ((gastro-esophag* or gastro-oesophag* or gastro?esophag* or oesophag* or esophag*) near/4 reflux*) 6553  

#3 MeSH descriptor: [Esophageal Motility Disorders] explode all trees 2794  

#4 ((oesophag* or esophag*) near/4 (motilit* or dysmotilit* or disorder* of funct*)) 11154  

#5 (gord or gerd) 2471  

#6 MeSH descriptor: [Heartburn] explode all trees 467  

#7 ((heart near/1 burn) or heartburn or pyros?s or (water near/1 brash) or waterbrash or (acid near/1 brash) or acidbrash) 2937  

#8 MeSH descriptor: [Barrett Esophagus] explode all trees 347  

#9 (barrett* near/4 (esophag* or oesophag* or dysplas* or syndrom*)) 798  

#10 MeSH descriptor: [Esophageal Sphincter, Lower] explode all trees 101  

#11 (lower near/4 (gastro-esophag* or gastro-oesophag* or gastro?esophag* or oesophag* or esophag*) near/4 sphincter*) 1018  

#12 gastric near/4 (reflux* or regurgitat* or acid* or juice*) 4362  

#13 ((acid or bile) near/4 (reflux* or indigest* or flow-back or flowback or back-flow or backflow)) 1107  

#14 MeSH descriptor: [Dyspepsia] explode all trees 1437  

#15 dyspepsi* 6542  

#16 MeSH descriptor: [Hernia, Hiatal] explode all trees 135  

#17 ((oesophag* or esophag* or para?esophag* or hiat*) near/4 hernia*) 501  

#18 MeSH descriptor: [Deglutition Disorders] explode all trees 4107  

#19 (Deglutit* near/4  disord*) 1514  

#20 dysphag* 6190  

#21 #1 or #2 or #3 or #4 or #5 or #6 or #7 or #8 or #9 or #10 or #11 or #12 or #13 or #14 or #15 or #16 or #17 or #18 or #19 or #20 31305  

#22 MeSH descriptor: [Prostheses and Implants] explode all trees 25963  

#23 MeSH descriptor: [Prosthesis Implantation] explode all trees 11818  

#24 MeSH descriptor: [Prosthesis Design] explode all trees 3527  

#25 (prosthes* near/4 (design* or implant*)) 9295  

#26 (implantable near/2 device) 379  

#27 (anti-reflux or non-active)  near/4 implant* 6  

#28 #22 or #23 or #24 or #25 or #26 or #27 34255  

#29 #21 AND #28 230  

#30 refluxstop 2  

#31 #29 or #30 231  

#32 "conference":pt or (clinicaltrials or trialsearch):so 750874  

#33 #31 NOT #32 227  

INAHTA HTA search strategy 

1 , "Gastroesophageal Reflux"[mhe] , 47  

2 , ((gastro-esophag* or gastro-oesophag* or gastro?esophag* or oesophag* or esophag*) AND reflux*) , 36  

3 , "Esophageal Motility Disorders"[mh] , 0  

4 , (oesophag* or esophag*) AND (motilit* or dysmotilit* or disorder* of funct*)) , 21  

5 , (gord or gerd) , 36  

6 , "Heartburn"[mh] , 3  

7 , (heart AND burn) or heartburn or pyros?s or (water AND brash) or waterbrash or (acid AND brash) or acidbrash) , 8  

8 , "Barrett Esophagus"[mh] , 30  

9 , (barrett* AND (esophag* or oesophag* or dysplas* or syndrom*)) , 38  

10 , "Esophageal Sphincter, Lower"[mh] , 6  

11 , (lower AND (gastro-esophag* or gastro-oesophag* or gastro?esophag* or oesophag* or esophag*) AND sphincter*) , 7  

12 , gastric AND (reflux* or regurgitat* or acid* or juice*) , 14  

13 , (acid or bile) AND (reflux* or indigest* or flow-back or flowback or back-flow or backflow)) , 13  

14 , "Dyspepsia"[mh] , 16  

15 , dyspepsi* , 29  

16 , "Hernia, Hiatal"[mh] , 0  

17 , (oesophag* or esophag* or para?esophag* or hiat*) AND hernia*) , 5  

18 , "Deglutition Disorders"[mh] , 22  

19 , (Deglutit* AND disord*) , 1  

20 , dysphag* , 37  

21 , #20 OR #19 OR #18 OR #17 OR #16 OR #15 OR #14 OR #13 OR #12 OR #11 OR #10 OR #9 OR #8 OR #7 OR #6 OR #5 OR #4 OR #3 OR #2 OR #1 , 183  

22 , "Prostheses and Implants"[mh] , 154  

23 , "Prosthesis Implantation"[mh] , 169  

24 , "Prosthesis Design"[mh] , 39  

25 , (prosthes* AND (design* or implant*)) , 78  

26 , (implantable AND device) , 48  

27 , (anti-reflux or non-active) AND implant* , 2  

28 , #27 OR #26 OR #25 OR #24 OR #23 OR #22 , 417  

29 , #28 AND #21 , 141  

30 , refluxstop , 1  

31 , #30 OR #29 , 141 

Inclusion criteria 

The following inclusion criteria were applied to the abstracts identified by the literature search. 

If selection criteria could not be determined from the abstracts the full paper was retrieved. 

Find out more about how NICE selects the evidence for the committee.