Comparison of ultrasound-guided radiofrequency ablation and hepatectomy for colorectal liver metastasis: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most frequently occurring malignancy tumors. Surgical treatment has made great progress in CRC liver metastasis (CRLM), including radiofrequency ablation (RFA), and hepatectomy. We perform a protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis to compare the efficacy and safety of ultrasound-guided RFA and hepatectomy in treating CRLM. METHODS: This systematic review protocol will be reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses Protocols (PRISMA-P) 2015 Statement. The protocol has been registered in PROSPERO (CRD42022371561). PubMed, EMBASE, MEDLINE, the Cochrane Library, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, Wanfang Database, ClinicalTrials.gov trials registry, and Chinese Clinical Trial Registry will be searched from January 1980 to December 2022. Only randomized controlled trials will be included. Cochrane systematic evaluation tool is used to assess the risk of bias. The RevMan 5.3 software (Cochrane Collaboration, Oxford, UK) will be applied to conduct the meta-analyses. RESULTS: The results of this systematic review and meta-analysis will be publicly available and published in a peer-reviewed journal. CONCLUSION: This study may provide more convincing evidence to help surgeons make decisions when dealing with CRLM.