Radiotherapy for glioblastoma in the elderly: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Glioblastoma is an aggressive form of brain cancer with significant morbidity and mortality. This study aims to determine the radiotherapy for treatment of elderly people with diagnosed glioblastoma. METHOD: This study adheres to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis for Protocols. Chinese electronic Database (CBM, Wanfang, and CNKI) and international electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science) will be searched for all relevant published articles, with no restrictions on the year of publication or language. Study selection, data collection, and assessment of study bias will be conducted independently by a pair of independent reviewers. The Cochrane Risk of bias (ROB) tool will be used for the risk of bias assessment. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment Development and Evaluation (GRADE) system will be used to assess the quality of evidence. The statistical analysis of this meta-analysis will be calculated by Review manager version 5.3. RESULTS: The results of this study will be published in a peer-reviewed journal. CONCLUSION: The findings of this review will to provide high-level evidence in terms of the benefits and harms of radiotherapy in people with glioblastoma to provide meaningful conclusions for clinical practice and further research. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This study protocol was registered in open Science framework (OSF), (Registration DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/A6BCS).