Statistical analysis
SPSS statistical program 25.0 (SPSS, Chicago, IL) and GraphPad Prism 9 (GraphPad Software, La Jolla, CA) were used for statistical analyses. Continuous variables are expressed as mean ± standard deviations (SD), while categorial variables are expressed as numbers and percentages. Normality distribution of the data was analyzed using the Shapiro–Wilk test.For normally distributed data, a Bonferroni-adjusted Student’s t-test assessed possible differences between the ST and CCT groups at each of the measurements and the Mann–Whitney-U-Test for non-normal distributed data. Longitudinal analyses were performed as per protocol (PP) and intention-to-treat (ITT) analyses using the conservative last observation carried forward (LOCF) method in case of missing data for non-deceased patients. Survival rate was estimated by the Kaplan–Meier method with univariate Log-Rank test used to compare the ST group with the CCT group. In accordance with accepted standards, statistical significance was set to a 2-tailed p-value of 0.05.