A methodological protocol for the development of a national guideline on perioperative management of gastrointestinal tumors in Germany.

Abstract

The success of abdominal cancer surgery depends not only on the surgery itself but is influenced by the overall perioperative management. Given the multitude of perioperative measures and the ever-increasing number of studies on perioperative management, it is difficult to keep track and provide evidence-based perioperative management. The planned guideline on perioperative management will review the existing evidence and derive treatment recommendations. The processing of the evidence is carried out by 6 working groups according to an 8-step scheme: after drafting the guideline questions in PICO format (1), a systematic literature search is carried out (2), and the records found are screened by two independent reviewers from the coordination team. Subsequently, the full texts of the potentially relevant articles are made available to the working groups for full text screening (3). All articles to be included are reviewed for methodological quality (4) before summary of findings tables are generated (5). In line with the GRADE approach, confidence in the evidence is assessed (6) before a recommendation is derived from the evidence, using a modified GRADE Evidence to Decision Framework (7). Finally, all recommendations are compiled and agreed within the guideline group (8). Guidelines serve as foundation for therapy decisions in everyday clinical practice and should therefore be based on up-to-date research results. However, while primary studies and systematic reviews are critically reviewed for their methodological quality, the process of guideline development is often not comprehensible. A protocol with predefined methodology should therefore create transparency and strengthen confidence in the recommendations. The guideline is registered in the AWMF (Association of the Scientific Medical Societies) Guideline Register (088-010OL).