Evidence for miniscalpel-needle/needle knife in the management of chronic pain related conditions: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this systematic review with meta-analysis is to determine the effect of miniscalpel-needle/needle-knife in treatment of chronic pain symptoms. METHODS: The following electronic databases will be searched by 2 independent reviewers: PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Springer, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang, and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM). All randomized controlled trials on miniscalpel-needle/need-knife for chronic pain published in electronic databases from inception to August 1, 2019 with language restricted in Chinses and English will be included in the study. Methodologic quality is assessed by 2 blinded reviewers independently screen and score the articles using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale and the Cochrane Collaboration risk of bias tool. A meta-analysis was performed when there is sufficient clinical homogeneity in at least 2 studies. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach is used to rate the body of evidence in each meta-analysis. When the quantitive evaluation is not available, a qualitative description of the results of single study is provided. RESULTS: A high-quality synthesis of current evidence of miniscapel-needle/needle-knife treating chronic pain will be illustrated using subjective reports and objective measures of performance. The primary outcomes consisted of pain intensity improvement rate clinically meaningful improvements in pain and disability are also noted. Secondary outcomes involve the short form of McGill Pain Questionnaire score (SF-MPQ) and the side effects. CONCLUSION: This protocol will present the evidence of whether miniscalpel-needle/needle-knife is an effective intervention for chronic pain. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42019129076