Background: Previous evidences show that acupuncture and moxibustion therapy has positive effects on peripheral facial nerve paralysis (PFP), but there are many acupuncture treatments based on meridian theory, and there are differences in the efficacy of each program. This study will compare the clinical efficacy of different acupuncture treatments for PFP through mesh meta-analysis.
Methods: Randomized controlled trials of acupuncture therapy in the treatment of PFP are going to be retrieved from 8 Science databases including CNKI, Wanfang, VIP and Chinese Biomedical Science, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library from establishment to January 2022. We will use the Cochrane Risk Bias Assessment Tool to assess the quality of the studies and the grading of recommendation assessment, development and evaluation method to assess the strength of the evidence. All data analyses will be performed by Revman5.3, Gemtc 0.14.3, and Stata 14.0.
Results: This study will evaluate the efficacy of different acupuncture treatments for PFP by evaluating clinical efficacy rate, facial nerve function score, facial disability score scale, facial electromyography, adverse reactions, etc, and further explore the mechanism of action of each therapy.
Conclusion: This study will provide a reliable evidence-based basis for selecting the best acupuncture treatment for PFP.
Trial registration: Open science framework registration number: DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/XQRK9.
Copyright © 2022 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.