Efficacy of ranibizumab for the treatment of diabetic retinopathy: A protocol for systematic review of randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Previous clinical trials have reported that ranibizumab can be used to treat diabetic retinopathy (DR) effectively. However, no study has been conducted to evaluate its efficacy for patients with DR systematically. Thus, this study will specifically and systematically assess the efficacy and safety of ranibizumab for DR. METHODS: Cochrane Library, EMBASE, PUBMED, Web of Science, Google Scholar, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database will be searched from inceptions to the March 20, 2019 for studies related to the topic. This study will only consider publicly released randomized controlled trials for evaluating the effect and safety of ranibizumab for DR. No language restrictions will be imposed for all databases search. Methodological quality of each included trial will be assessed by Cochrane risk of bias tool. Statistical analysis will be performed by Stata 12.0 software. RESULTS: This study will provide recent summary evidence of ranibizumab for DR. Primary outcomes include percentages with retinopathy improvement, and cumulative probabilities for retinopathy worsening. Secondary outcome consist of visual function, best-corrected visual acuities, central subfield thickness, total macular volume, peripheral visual field loss, retinal neovascularization, and adverse events. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study may provide theoretical basis for clinical practice refer and may benefit more patients with DR.