The efficacy and safety of several interventions of corticosteroids for CRSwNP patients after endoscope sinus surgery: A protocol for systematic review and network meta-analysis

Corticosteroid has been a mainstay of chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) medical therapy. While endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) will be performed when patients had failed to respond to maximal medical therapy. Many studies shown that several corticosteroids of interventions (e.g., nasal spray, oral, atomization/nebulization, nasal irrigation, direct infiltration, and steroid-eluting stent, etc) have each demonstrated significant efficacy compared with placebo or no corticosteroids intervention except intranasal corticosteroids for the treatment of CRSwNP after ESS. The aim of this systematic review and network meta-analysis is to answer the following question: which 1 is the best corticosteroid of intervention for CRSwNP patients after ESS? METHODS: A systematic review will be conducted to identify studies involving randomized controlled trials which compared several different interventions of corticosteroids (e.g., nasal spray, oral, atomization/nebulization, nasal irrigation, direct infiltration, steroid-eluting stent, etc) for CRSwNP patients after ESS. The primary outcomes are efficacy (e.g., effective rate or cure rate), visual analogic scale of symptom severity, Lund-Kennedy endoscopic score, adverse events, and so on. We will comprehensively search PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, ClinicalTrials.gov, Web of Science, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wangfang and VIP journal database from inception to July, 2022. For studies which meet our inclusion criteria, 2 reviewers will extract data independently and assess the quality of literature using a revision of version 2 of the Cochrane risk of bias tool (RoB 2.0). A random effects model will be used for all pairwise meta-analyses (with a 95% confidence interval). Network meta-analyses will be conducted to generate estimates of comparative effectiveness of each intervention class and rankings of their effectiveness. RESULTS: The results of this study expect to provide a high-quality, evidence-based recommendation on which 1 is the best corticosteroid of intervention for CRSwNP patients after ESS? DISCUSSION: This study will provide evidence regarding the comparability of several interventions of corticosteroids for CRSwNP patients after ESS. Also, the data generated from this review will provide health-care providers with a clear evidence synthesis of CRSwNP patients after ESS management strategies. These data will be incorporated into the development of a patient decision aid to assist patients and clinicians in making a preference-based decision when faced with a CRSwNP patients after ESS as well.