Validity of studies suggesting preoperative chemotherapy for resectable thoracic esophageal cancer: A critical appraisal of randomized trials

Table 2 Assessment of validity of the three analysed studies according to the CONSORT checklist (REF)

Section/Topic	Item number	Boonstra et al[16]	MRC Allum et al[17]	Ychou et al[15]
Title and Abstract	1a	Yes	Yes	No
	1b	Yes	Yes	Yes
Introduction
Background and objectives	2a	Yes	Yes	Yes
	2b	Yes	Yes	Yes
Methods
Trial design	3a	Yes	Yes	Yes
	3b	Not applicable	Not applicable	Yes
Participants	4a	Yes	Yes	Yes
	4b	Yes	No	No
Interventions	5	Yes	No	Yes
Outcomes	6a	Yes	Yes	Yes
	6b	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
Sample size	7a	Yes	No	Yes
	7b	Not applicable	Not applicable	Yes
Randomisation
-Sequence generation	8a	No	Yes	Yes
	8b	No	No	No
-Allocation concealment mechanism	9	No	No	No
- Implementation	10	No	No	No
Blinding	11a	No	Yes	No
	11b	Yes	No	No
Statistical methods	12a	Yes	Yes	Yes
	12b	Yes	Yes	Not applicable
Results
Participant flow	13a	Yes	Yes	Yes
	13b	Yes	Yes	Yes
Recruitment	14a	Yes	Yes	Yes
	14b	Not applicable	Not applicable	Nes
Baseline data	15	Yes	Yes	Yes
Numbers analysed	16	Yes	Yes	Yes
Outcomes and estimation	17a	Yes	Yes	Yes
	17b	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ancillary analysis	18	Yes	Yes	Not applicable
Harms	19	Yes	No	Yes
Discussion
Limitations	20	Yes	Yes	Yes
Generalisability	21	No	No	No
Interpretation	22	Yes	Yes	Yes
Other information
Registration	23	No	No	No
Protocol	24	No	No	No
Funding	25	Yes	Yes	No