Effectiveness and safety of tenosynovitis of the long head of the biceps brachii with acupuncture: a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Tenosynovitis of the long head of the biceps (LHB) brachii is a common disease in patients over 40 years old. It can always result in chronic anterior shoulder pain and limited function. Acupuncture is one of most popular conservative treatment methods, and increasing studies indicate that it has remarkable therapeutic effects on the tenosynovitis of LHB brachii. However, the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for treating tenosynovitis of LHB brachii remain largely uncertain. In our study, we will perform the first systematic review and meta-analysis to explore the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture on the tenosynovitis of LHB brachii. Methods: We will search the randomized controlled trial (RCT) literatures involving acupuncture for treating tenosynovitis of LHB brachii in eight electric databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), Wanfang Database, and Technology Periodical Database (VIP). We will define the visual analog scale (VAS), the Melle score of shoulder joint functional activity, and the ability assessment of daily living activities (ADL) as the primary outcomes. Besides quality of life, adverse events caused by acupuncture will be regarded as the secondary outcomes. Quality assessment of the included studies will be independently performed according to the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. Meanwhile, the level of evidence for results will be assessed by using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) method. All analyses will be conducted by using the RevMan software V5.3. Results: From the study, we will ascertain the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture treatment on tenosynovitis of LHB brachii. Conclusion: The conclusion of this study will confirm the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture in the treatment of tenosynovitis of LHB brachii, which can provide new evidence to guide appropriate interventions on tenosynovitis of LHB brachii with acupuncture in the future. Ethics and dissemination: Ethical approval is not required because no individual patient data are collected. This review will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and presented at an international academic conference for dissemination.