Efficacy and safety of tibial cortex transverse transport for diabetic foot: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

INTRODUCTION: Diabetic foot (DF) is one of the most serious chronic complications of diabetes. In recent years, the use of the tibial cortex transverse transport (TTT) technique has enabled great progress in microcirculation reconstruction and achievement of good outcomes in DF treatment. The objective of this systematic review protocol is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of TTT for DF. METHODS: Literature search was conducted using the Cochrane Library, Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, China Science Technology Journal Database (VIP), Wanfang Data, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Biomedical Literature Service System (SinoMed), and Chinese Biomedical Literature Service System (CBM) from inception until March, 1st 2022. In addition, our reviewers will retrieve dissertations, grey literature, systematic reviews, and reference lists of the relevant studies. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) which compared the TTT for DF with conventional treatment will be included. Our reviewers will perform subgroup analysis, sensitivity analysis, and publication bias analysis to evaluate the heterogeneity and robustness. RevMan 5.3 software and Stata V.16.0 software will be used to analyze the available data. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval was not required because this protocol neither collected private information, nor involved animal experiments. The research was disseminated by academic journals or related meetings. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42021279717.