Clinical therapeutic effects of acupuncture in treating patients with dysphagia after radiotherapy in nasopharyngeal carcinoma: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Dysphagia is a commonly occurring condition in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients after radiotherapy. There has been an increasing number of studies focused on assessing the use of acupuncture to manage dysphagia. Moreover, the quality of the research has gradually increased. The present research will be conducted to systematically evaluate the efficiency and safety of using acupuncture to treat cases of dysphagia after radiation therapy in NPC patients. METHODS: Literature search will include all potential randomized controlled trials using MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, EMBASE, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese BioMedical Literature, and WanFang database from their inception to May, 2021 without language or publication status restrictions, to evaluate the efficiency and safety of using acupuncture to treat dysphagia cases following radiation therapy in NPC patients. A couple of independent authors will select related literature, extract data from studies, and estimate this risk in the bias of the selected study articles. In the instance of contrasting opinions, the outcome is mediated through discussion with a different independent author. The data synthesis and statistical analysis will be completed with the RevMan software (version 5.3). RESULTS: This study will evaluate the efficiency and safety of using acupuncture to treat dysphagia cases after radiation therapy in NPC patients. CONCLUSION: This study will determine the suitability of acupuncture as an effective and safe intervention for dysphagia in NPC patients after radiotherapy. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The present study does not need ethical approval. REGISTRATION NUMBER: May 19, 2021.osf.io/f2cvt. (https://osf.io/f2cvt/).