Acupuncture for the treatment of marrow suppression after chemotherapy: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Cancer continues to be a severe global health problem and the leading cause of death worldwide. Chemotherapy as the main treatment has various side effects, of which marrow suppression is the most common one. Acupuncture had shown clinical effects for marrow suppression after chemotherapy in many studies. However, the efficacy and safety of acupuncture therapy for marrow suppression after chemotherapy remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: This protocol aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture for marrow suppression after chemotherapy according to the existing randomized controlled trials. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The randomized controlled trials on acupuncture therapy for marrow suppression after chemotherapy will be searched in the database of Embase, PubMed and Cochrane Library, Allied and Complementary Medicine Database (AMED), Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), China Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), WanFang Database (WF), and related registration platforms (WHO ICTRP, Clinical Trials, and Chinese Clinical Trial Register [ChiCTR]), Grey Literature Database from inception to 1 August 2020. The primary outcomes will be assessed using white blood cell (WBC) count, platelet count, hemoglobin count and the number of neutrophils (N). Review Manager V.5.3 software will be applied for statistical analyses. We will measure the risk of bias of the included studies with Cochrane Collaboration Risk of Bias Tool. Finally, Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) will be used to grade the overall quality of evidence. And we will use the intra-group correlation coefficient to assess the consistency of reviewers. RESULT: This systematic review and meta-analysis will put a high-quality synthesis of the efficacy and safety of acupuncture treatment in marrow suppression after chemotherapy. CONCLUSION: The conclusion of this systematic review will provide evidence to assess acupuncture therapy is an efficacy and safe intervention to treat and control marrow suppression after chemotherapy. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: PROSPERO CRD42020163336