Maarten van Egmond

86 Chapter 5 METHODS Data sources and searches MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), PEDro (www.pedro.org.au) , Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com ) and the World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform ( www.who.int/ictrp ) were searched for eligible studies following the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. 17 Grey literature was searched using Open Grey (www.opengrey.eu) . The following keywords and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) combined with Boolean operators were used: ‘Physical Therapy Modalities’[Mesh] OR ‘Exercise Therapy’[Mesh] OR physiotherap*[tiab] OR exercise*[tiab] AND ‘Telemedicine’[MAJR] OR ‘Telecommunications’[MAJR] OR telehealth[tw] AND ‘Surgical Procedures Operative’[MeSH] AND randomized controlled trial[pt] OR controlled clinical trial[pt]. All databases were searched from their inception to November 2016. Appendix A shows the full electronic search. The references of included studies were checked for other relevant publications in order not to miss any unpublished or ongoing trials. Also, the proceedings and developments of the American Telemedicine Association were followed with care. Study selection Randomized controlled trials, controlled clinical trials, quasi-randomized studies and quasi- experimental studies with comparative controls were included with no restrictions in terms of language or date of publication. Adults aged > 18 years with an indication for thoracic, upper abdominal or orthopedic surgery were included in this review. Studies on telerehabilitation were included if the intervention contained aspects of physical exercise or exercise therapy combined with health education or intentions to change health-related behavior. All modalities of the pre- and postsurgical intervention (type, duration, frequency and intensity of the treatment strategies) were taken into consideration. The control intervention was considered as usual care, face-to-face contact or no care. Telerehabilitation that combined incidental face-to-face contact to clinically assess patients on aspects of functional status were included if the intervention was conducted with telerehabilitation. Studies were excluded if the intervention did not contain physical exercise or exercise therapy via telerehabilitation.