| Level I | Good quality evidence |
Systematic review of RCTs with consistent findings High quality individual RCT |
| Level II |
Limited quality patient orientated evidence |
Systematic review of lower quality studies or studies with inconsistent findings Low quality clinical trial Cohort studies Case-control studies |
| Level III | Other |
Consensus guidelines, extrapolations from bench research, usual practice, opinion, disease-oriented evidence (intermediate or physiologic outcomes only), or case series |
[18] Vaccines – splenectomy: Davies JM, Lewis MP, Wimperis J, Rafi I, Ladhani S, Bolton-Maggs PH; British Committee for Standards in Haematology. Review of guidelines for the prevention and treatment of infection in patients with an absent or dysfunctional spleen: prepared on behalf of the British Committee for Standards in Haematology by a working party of the Haemato-Oncology task force. Br J Haematol. 2011 Nov;155(3):308-17. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21988145
Vaccines – splenectomy: Rubin LG, Levin MJ, Ljungman P, Davies EG, Avery R, Tomblyn M, Bousvaros A, Dhanireddy S, Sung L, Keyserling H, Kang I, Infectious Diseases Society of America. 2013 IDSA clinical practice guideline for vaccination of the immunocompromised host. Clin Infect Dis. 2014 Feb;58(3):e44-100. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24311479
Vaccines – splenectomy: Davidson RN, Wall RA. Prevention and management of infections in patients
without a spleen. ClinMicrobiol Infect. 2001 Dec;7(12):657-60. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11843905
Vaccines – splenectomy:Bisharat N, Omari H, Lavi I, Raz R. Risk of infection and death among
post-splenectomy patients. J Infect. 2001 Oct;43(3):182-6. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11798256