Article History
Received: 19 April 2019
Accepted: 25 October 2019
First Online: 6 November 2019
Ethics approval and consent to participate
: The study protocol conformed to the ethical guidelines of the 1975 Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the institutional review board of Kitano hospital. Informed consent was waived because this was a retrospective study. We disclosed the details of the present study to the public as an opt-out method and the notice clearly informed patients of their right to refuse enrollment. The institutional review board of Kitano hospital approved the opt-out consent to participate. Follow-up data were collected by reviewing hospital charts, by contacting the referring physicians by mail, or by contacting the patients or relative. When contacted for follow-up visit, no patients refused to participate in the study by viewing the opt-out statement. We documented the opt-out consent/refusal in their medical records.
: Not applicable.
: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.