Literature search report for S&P
Clinical evaluation template
Literature search report for S&P for medical device clinical evaluation
Use this editable Literature search report for S&P to structure clinical evidence, justify safety and performance conclusions, and keep your MDR/IVDR clinical evaluation documentation audit-ready.
- Best for: clinical evaluation planning, CER/CEP/SSCP preparation, PMCF evidence review and literature appraisal.
- Includes: editable sections aligned with MDR Annex XIV, MDCG 2020-6 and relevant MEDDEV guidance.
- Format: editable template available through the standard WooCommerce download flow.
At Lexqara, we connect clinical documentation, PMS activities and regulatory strategy so manufacturers can build defensible clinical evidence packages. Explore the Resource Center, review our Clinical Evaluation Services, or consult MDCG 2020-6 for the clinical evidence hierarchy.
Description:
This Literature Search Report for S&P documents how we executed a reproducible search and screening to support the safety and performance evidence of a subject device.
- Confirm the objective and the protocol used, and record any deviation with justification.
- Define and justify the search period for S&P evidence collection.
- Select search databases (e.g., Embase, PubMed, Cochrane, trials registries) per protocol.
- Apply consolidated search limitations (article type, language, humans) across databases.
- Remove duplicates consistently across sources.
- Capture exact search queries (keywords, connectors, dates, filters) to ensure reproducibility.
- Perform Level-1/Level-2 screening using documented inclusion/exclusion criteria and reasons for exclusion.
- Summarize exclusions using predefined codes and keep a list of retained citations.
Use this report when you need documented, repeatable clinical evidence collection for S&P, including published literature and non-published trial data, aligned with MEDDEV 2.7/1 rev.4 expectations.
Key requirements covered include transparent screening decisions and defensible search logic. Level-1 screening reviews titles/abstracts; it matters because it removes clearly irrelevant hits early. Level-2 screening confirms eligibility on full text; it matters because it locks in traceable inclusion decisions.
At Lexqara, we help you build audit-ready CER inputs by optimizing search strategy, screening rules, and reporting—integrated with clinical documentation and post-market activities. Explore our Resource Center [https://lexqara.com/resource-center/] and Clinical Activities [https://lexqara.com/service/clinical-activities/]. See MEDDEV 2.7/1 rev.4 [https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/17522/attachments/1/translations/]. Download the template and request a short gap assessment.
Use it to support CER updates, PMS/PMCF cycles, and consistent evidence traceability across device changes and periodic reviews.
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Template preview: Literature search report for S&P
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Literature Search Report for S&P
For
[Device Name]
Manufacturer Name: [Manufacturer name]
Document Number: XXXX
Revision: XXXX
Approval
Author
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Approval |
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Name: |
Date: |
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Title: |
Signature: |
Evaluator
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Approval |
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Name: |
Date: |
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Title: |
Signature: |
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Approval |
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Name: |
Date: |
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Title: |
Signature: |
Revision History
Table 1: History of revision
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Revision |
Date |
Change History |
Table of Contents
2. Deviation to the protocol 6
4.1. Literature search database 6
4.2. Clinical trials database 6
4.3. Clinical evidence from the previous CER 7
4.4. Inclusion and exclusion criteria 7
5. Summary of literature search results 8
5.2. Overall Search limitations 8
6. Detailed literature search results 12
7. List of retained citations for S&P 12
Acronyms
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CER |
Clinical evaluation report |
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EBM |
Evidence based medicine |
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EEA |
European economic area |
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EU |
European union |
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LVL |
Level |
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MEDDEV |
Medical Devices Documents |
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N/A |
Not applicable |
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S&P |
Safety and performance |
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US |
United States |
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WHO |
World health organization |
Objective
The literature search report has been carried out according to the protocol [protocol number and revision]. A systematic approach has been applied to collect clinical literature articles that support the S&P of [Device Name], hereafter named [device short name] (Objective 3).
Deviation to the protocol
No deviation to the protocol described in Section 1.
All deviations need to be justified for their impact on the results.
Search period
The S&P literature search report is defined to cover the period from [start date (DD Month YYYY)] to [end date (DD Month YYYY)].
As described in the protocol indicated in Section 1, Include a justification how the period selected is appropriate (copy/paste justification from the protocol)
Search databases
Literature search database
The following literature databases have been selected to collect the published literature articles that support the S&P of [device short name].
Table 2: Search databases for published literature
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Literature Database |
Justification (copy/paste the justification from the protocol) |
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Embase is a recognized database for literature described in Section A4 of MEDDEV 2.7/1 rev.4. Embase will be used as a primary medical literature database for the collection of clinical data using dedicated search terms. |
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PubMed is a recognized database for literature described in Section A4 of MEDDEV 2.7/1 rev.4. PubMed will be used as a primary medical literature database for the collection of clinical data using dedicated search terms |
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The Cochrane Library includes a database of systematic reviews (Cochrane Reviews) in health care. Cochrane Library is used as secondary database for the collection of clinical data missed in the primary databases to support the S&P of the subject device. |
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Google scholar will be used to pre-screen the literature available for the subject device to evaluate the quantity and quality of clinical literature available. The pre-screening of clinical literature will not be documented. Google Scholar will be used as secondary database for the collection of clinical data that will be used to support the safety and performance of the subject device when the results are poor via the primary databases. Hence, the use of Google Scholar is optional. |
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Clinical trials database
The following clinical trials databases have been selected to collect the non-published data that support the S&P of [device short name].
Table 3: Search database for non-published data
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Clinical Trial Database |
Justification (copy/paste the justification from the protocol) |
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The EU Clinical Trials Register contains information on interventional clinical trials on medicines conducted in the European Union (EU), or the European Economic Area (EEA). This database enables to search for clinical trials in the EudraCT database (used by national medicines regulators for data related to clinical trial protocols) and World Health Organization (WHO’s) Registry Network (for which EU Clinical Trials Register is a primary registry. |
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Clinicaltrials.gov is the database of clinical trials conducted in US. |
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Clinical evidence from the previous CER
To be removed if not applicable
Literature articles included in the previous clinical evaluation report (CER) will be screened against the inclusion/exclusion criteria to verify their continuous suitability.
Table 4: Searches in previous CER
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Previous CER |
Number of articles to be screened |
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Document Number and revision |
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Inclusion and exclusion criteria
For the identification of relevant literature articles, the results from the literature search implementation have been reviewed for inclusion based on the titles and abstracts (Level-1 screening) and the full articles (Level-2 screening). The decision to retain each article has been defined based on the inclusion/exclusion criteria described below.
Table 5: Inclusion/exclusion criteria for S&P (copy/paste from the protocol)
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Code |
Description |
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Inclusion criteria |
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I1 |
The article includes on label data on safety and/or performance of the subject device |
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I2 |
The article includes off label data on safety and/or performance of the subject device |
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IX |
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Exclusion criteria |
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E1 |
The article does not include safety and/or performance data on the subject device |
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E2 |
When multiple medical conditions are treated/diagnosed or multiple devices are used during the same study, data are not stratified in respect to the subject device or the medical condition treated/diagnosed by subject device. |
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E3 |
Conference article, protocol, survey, position paper, reviews, non-controlled trial, non-randomized trial (to be adapted depending on the quality and quantity of expected results) |
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E4 |
Not in English |
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E5 |
Not in humans |
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E6 |
Article outside the period of search |
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E7 |
Duplicated reference |
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E8 |
Full text not accessible |
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EX |
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Summary of literature search results
Introduction
The literature search has been implemented according to the protocol described in Section 1 to detect the published and unpublished articles related to the subject or equivalent devices and bring clinical evidence for the demonstration of safety and performance of [device short name].
Overall Search limitations
The search limitations, such as types of articles, language, etc. differ from a database to another. Hence, this section describes the overall search limitation strategy that has been applied in the literature search.
Table 6: Overall search limitations (table adapted from the protocol)
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Type of search |
Objective |
Type of limitation |
Description |
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Literature search |
S&P |
Search period: Article type: Language: Population: |
See Section 3 Controlled clinical Trials/meta-analysis/systematic review English Humans |
Search queries
The literature search has been carried out by: John Doe
The literature search has been implemented on: DD/MM/YYYY
The following table describes the search queries that have been used for the identification of literature articles relevant to the S&P of [Device short name].
Table 7: Search queries for S&P (table adapted from the protocol (removal of strategy column))
The queries need to be as detailed as possible with all limitations, start/end dates of search, exact keywords, connectors, etc. to be reproducible later by another author and to be modified easily for an update
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Literature database |
Detailed limitations |
# |
Detailed query |
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EBM:
Date: Publication years from YYYY to YYYY Quick limits:
Publication types: Article |
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Publication type:
Date – publication: YYYY/MM/DD to YYYY/MM/DD Language: English Filter: Humans |
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Content type:
Cochrane Library publication date: Between Month YYYY and Month YYYY Search word variations: activated |
All Text: |
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All Text: |
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All Text: |
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Article: activated Any type: activated Custom range: YYYY – YYYY Include citations: activated |
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Select Date Range: YYYY-MM-DD to YYYY-MM-DD Results Status: Trials with results |
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Study status: All studies Study type:
Study results: with results Date Range: Last update posted: From MM/DD/YYYY to MM/DD/YYYY |
Other terms: |
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Other terms: |
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Other terms: |
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Previous CER: XXX rev.1 |
N/A – all articles included in the previous CER will be re-screened to confirm their suitability. |
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Search results
The following table describes the total number of articles collected after the implementation of each literature search query as well as the number of excluded/included articles after level-1 and level-2 screening processes.
Table 8: Search results
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Literature database |
Query |
Number of results |
Total number of results without duplicate |
Total number of results |
Level 1 screening |
Level 2 screening |
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Number excluded |
Number included |
Number excluded |
Number included |
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Previous CER: XXX rev.1 |
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Reasons for exclusion
The following table describes the summary of reasons for inclusion/exclusion for all articles collected via the literature search strategy implemented.
Table 9: Summary of reasons for inclusion/exclusion
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TOTAL number of results |
Level 1 screening |
Level 2 screening |
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Reasons for inclusion/exclusion |
Number of results |
Reasons for inclusion/exclusion |
Number of results |
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E1 |
E1 |
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E2 |
E2 |
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E3 |
E3 |
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E4 |
E4 |
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E5 |
E5 |
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E6 |
E6 |
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E7 |
E7 |
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E8 |
E8 |
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I1 |
I1 |
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I2 |
I2 |
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Detailed literature search results
The following table describes the reasons for inclusion/exclusion of all individual articles collected via the literature search strategy implemented.
Table 10: Justification for inclusion/exclusion
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# |
Citations |
Screening |
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LVL 1 |
LVL 2 |
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List of retained citations for S&P
- XXX
- XXX
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