OBJECTIVES: A meta-analysis that uses individual rather than aggregate-level data is widely considered a gold standard approach, partly because it allows a time-to-event analysis. An R package, “metaSurvival,” is available in the open-source domain to pool the Kaplan Meier curves. The objective was to develop a web-based framework and deploy it in the open source for quick accessibility and usability of the “metaSurvival” package.

METHODS: A web application was developed in R using the R-Shiny package. The functions in the “metaSurvival” package are modified and adapted for this platform. The default data is used to populate and run the application upon loading, which the user can change by uploading the custom data in a prespecified format to perform the analysis. The tool was deployed using the docker container on Amazon Web Services (AWS) with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates, and Auth0 handled the user’s authentication. The input data uploaded on this platform will only last till the active session and will not be stored on any server.

RESULTS: The web-based tool was deployed in open source and accessible by clicking on https://metasurvival.survlytics.com/. The tool can run multiple sensitivity analyses quickly by excluding the studies from the meta-analysis. The outputs from the tool include heterogeneity testing, median survival, restricted mean survival, and pooled survival probabilities from both fixed and random effect models. All the outputs from the analysis can be downloaded in Excel format and picture format for reporting purposes.

CONCLUSIONS: Adopting this approach facilitates the decision-makers to make better informed and meaningful decisions quickly. The user can run the analysis without prior programming knowledge and tailor it to multiple scenarios.