I want to conduct a systematic review comparing two new treatment modalities. But unfortunately, no studies compared them before . can I make indirect comparison between thier effect versus the gold standered treatment ?
You could compare the results of separate meta-analyses: one of studies that evaluate treatment A, one of studies that evaluate treatment B, etcetera.
Another option would be to perform a subgroup analysis. You would then include all studies in one meta-analysis, but assign each study to a specific subgroup of studies. You can then assess whether the results within these subgroups are different from each other. Here you can find an example of a subgroup analysis could look like, and how to interpret the results: http://www.erim.eur.nl/research-support/meta-essentials/interpret-results/subgroup-analysis/
If you want to asess the eficacy of a new treatment, you ever must compare with the gold standard, which is the best evidence of a treatment use in this moment. So I propose to conduct two separate reviews and meta analysis. All the best !!
Thank you for your answer , both treatment were found to be effective in other reviews my research question is which of the two drugs is more effective.No papers have compared them togeather yet. So, I wondered if it is possible to use indirect evidence by comparing their results versus the gold standered treatment to facilitate clinical decision .