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Category: Project

Description: Introduction Patients with advanced stage cancer usually have a higher tumor burden, and will always experience cancer-related and treatment-related symptoms, such as pain, fatigue, gastrointestinal symptoms, mental, psychological and sleep disorder, which greatly reduces their quality of life and has been considered as a major challenge in health care. Nowadays, complementary therapy is popular in the treatment of cancer-related symptoms. Literatures on acupuncture for the relief of symptoms among advanced cancer patients have been increasing, but the results are not consistent. The purpose of this systematic review is to evaluate the existing randomised and non-randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate the up-to-date evidence of acupuncture for the management of cancer-related and cancer treatment-related symptoms among advanced cancer patients. Methods and analysis We will carry out a systematic review with meta-analysis based on Preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis (PRISMA) guideline. A search of major databases including Pubmed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, SinoMed and ClinicalTrials.gov from inception through October 2020 will be conducted to identify RCTs of acupuncture management for symptoms among patients with advanced or metastatic cancer. Main outcomes will include cancer and treatment-related symptoms, quality of life, sleep quality and adverse events. DerSimonian & Laird random-effects meta-analysis will be applied to calculate pooled relative risks for binary data and pooled weighted mean differences (WMDs) or standardized mean differences (SMDs) for continuous data. Trial quality ratings and risk of bias will be evaluated using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool and the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach. Ethics and dissemination This systematic review with meta-analysis does not require ethics approval. The data used here are abstracted from published literatures. We will be able to systematically determine whether acupuncture intervention will relieve symptoms induced by cancer palliative care and adjuvant therapy. Results of this systematic review will be submitted to international peer-reviewed journals, conferences and seminars regarding cancer care and treatment.