Study designs of evaluations included in the review
No requirements relating to study design were stated. The included studies appear to have been uncontrolled follow-up studies. The median follow-up periods ranged from 18 to 53 months in the surgical studies, and from 20 months to 14 years in the radiotherapy studies.
Specific interventions included in the review
Surgery (with or without adjuvant hormonal manipulation), or radiation therapy. Radiation therapy comprised either conventional external beam irradiation, 3-dimensional conformal radiation therapy, interstitial brachytherapy, neutron therapy, or adjuvant hormonal manipulation.
Participants included in the review
Patients with early-stage prostate cancer who could be stratified by pre-treatment PSA levels, in order to evaluate treatment outcome. Pre-treatment PSA values had to be recorded and grouped for subsequent evaluation, and post-treatment PSA values had to be continuously monitored.
Outcomes assessed in the review
The main outcome measure was the rate of biochemical control achieved by each treatment. The definitions of biochemical control used to evaluate the outcome, and the median follow-up in each study, had to be stated.
How were decisions on the relevance of primary studies made?
All articles were reviewed independently by three authors, to determine whether all the eligibility criteria were met.