Acupuncture therapy for preventing the nausea and vomiting following high emetic risk chemotherapy: A protocol for systematic review and Bayesian Network meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Nausea and vomiting are the most common complications after chemotherapy, which cannot be completely controlled even with commonly prescribed antiemetic drugs, particularly in patients receiving highly emetogenic chemotherapy Acupuncture therapy is an effective replacement method for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV), which effectiveness and safety have been observed by many clinicians. However, different acupuncture treatments have various effectiveness. Based on enough clinical researches, the study aims to uses Bayesian network meta-analysis (NMA) to evaluate the effectiveness of different acupuncture therapies used for preventing CINV.

METHODS: Authors will search PubMed/Medline, Cochrane library, Web of Science, Ebsco, Ovid/Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Database, VIP Database, and China Biology Medicine from setup time to July 2020. All randomized control trails meet the standard will be included. Quality evaluation of included studies will be implemented with Cochrane risk-of-bias tool. STATA 14.0 will be used to perform pairwise meta-analysis. Addis 1.16.8 (University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG), Groningen, NL) and OpenBUGS 3.2.3 (Medical Research Council (MRC), London, UK) will be used to conduct NMA.

RESULTS: The results of this review will generate a comprehensive review of current evidence and be published on a peer-reviewed journal.

CONCLUSION: The result of this systematic review and Bayesian NMA may offer better options for patients in relieving CINV.Systematic review registration number: INPLASY202070070.