A comparison of the effects of acupoint injection combined with hyaluronic acid versus isolated hyaluronic acid for knee osteoarthritis: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

BACKGROUND: Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a kind of degenerative osteoarthropathy, which causes joint pain and limited mobility, seriously affects the quality of life of the patient. Traditional Chinese Medicine acupuncture and moxibustion has been widely used to treat KOA, and acupoint injection is 1 of the acupuncture treatment methods. The purpose of this work is to evaluate the effectiveness of Acupoint injection combined with Hyaluronic Acid injection compared with isolated Hyaluronic Acid injection for KOA. METHODS: We will search articles in 7 electronic databases including Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Data, Chinese Scientific Journals Database, Chinese databases SinoMed, PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases. All the publications, with no time restrictions, will be searched without any restriction of language and status, the time from the establishment of the database to October 2020. Two reviewers will independently assess the quality of the selected studies, NoteExpress and Excel software will be used to extract data, and the content will be stored in an electronic chart. Different researchers will separately screen the titles and abstracts of records acquired potential eligibility which comes from the electronic databases. Full-text screening and data extraction will be conducted afterward independently. Statistical analysis will be conducted using RevMan 5.4 software. RESULTS: This study will evaluate the efficacy and safety of Acupoint injection combined with Hyaluronic Acid injection compared with isolated Hyaluronic Acid injection in the treatment of KOA, to provide high-quality, evidence-based clinical recommendations. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: INPLASY2020100058 CONCLUSION: This study will provide reliable evidence on whether Acupoint injection combined with Hyaluronic Acid injection compared with isolated Hyaluronic Acid injection is more effective in treating KOA.