Risk of bias assessment
| Study | Selection bias | Ascertainment bias | Causality | Quality of reporting, description | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Is (are) the patient(s) representative of the investigating centre? | Was the exposure/ outcome adequately ascertained? | Was an alternative cause ruled out? | Was there a challenge– rechallenge phenomenon? | Was there a dose– response effect? | Was follow-up long enough? | Was (were) the case(s) described in sufficient detail? | |
| O’Reilly et al. (28) | Patient selection method NS | Yes/yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Denkler and Cohen (43) | Patient selection method NS | Yes/yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Wong et al. (40) | Patient selection method NS | Yes/yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Varughese and Koh (41) | Patient selection method NS | Yes/yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Baserga et al. (25) | Patient selection method NS | Yes/yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Vasquez et al. (30) | Patient selection method NS | Yes/yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Maffei et al. (23) | Patient selection method NS | Yes/yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Ancora et al. (39) | Patient selection method NS | Yes/yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Mousavi et al. (38) | Patient selection method NS | NS | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Akingbola et al. (34) | Patient selection method NS | Yes/yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Mosalli et al. (35) | Patient selection method NS | Yes/yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Kamar et al. (44) | Patient selection method NS | Yes/ses | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Samiee-Zafarghandy et al. (22) | Patient selection method NS | Yes/yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Dilli et al. (33) | Patient selection method NS | Yes/yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Teo and Shah (31) | Patient selection method NS | Yes/yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Parra et al. (29) | Patient selection method NS | Yes/yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Vivar del Hoyo et al. (24) | Patient selection method NS | Yes/yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Yong et al. (42) | Yes | Yes/yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Han et al. (37) | Patient selection method NS | Yes/yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Isik et al. (36) | Patient selection method NS | Yes/yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Mintoft et al. (26) | Patient selection method NS | Yes/yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Kuttysankaran et al. (32) | Patient selection method NS | Yes/yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Weeraskera et al. (27) | Patient selection method NS | Yes/yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Note: NS = not stated. Risk of bias was ascertained using the Tool for Evaluating the Methodological Quality of Case Reports and Case Series. (21)