title: Efficacy and safety of acupuncture for chemotherapy-induced leucopoenia: protocol for a systematic review.
abstract: Many cancer patients experience leucopoenia during chemotherapy. Granulocyte- colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) is used to treat chemotherapy-induced leucopoenia (CIL) but has various limitations. Clinical trials have indicated that acupuncture may prevent bone marrow suppression and increase leucocyte counts after chemotherapy. The objective of this review is to assess the efficacy and safety of acupuncture for treating CIL.
  
  
  
  This systematic review will electronically search the following databases: the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), the Cochrane Library, Medline, EMBASE, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database (CNKI), the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), the Chinese Scientific Journal Database (VIP Database) and the Wanfang database from their inception to 1 January 2016. Other sources will also be searched including potential grey literature, conference proceedings and the reference lists of identified publications and existing systematic reviews. Two reviewers will independently search the databases, perform data extraction and assess the quality of studies. Data will be synthesised by either the fixed-effects or the random-effects model according to a heterogeneity test. White blood cell counts will be assessed as the primary outcome. Adverse effects, incidence of leucopoenia, quality of life and physical condition will be evaluated as secondary outcomes. RevMan V.5.3 will be employed for data analysis. The results will be expressed as risk ratios for dichotomous data and mean differences for continuous data.
  
  
  
  The protocol does not need ethics approval because individuals cannot be identified. The review will be reported in a peer-reviewed publication or at a relevant conference.
  
  
  
  CRD42015027594.
authors.affiliation: Oncology Department, Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine affiliated to Capital Medical University, Beijing, China School of Graduates, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jiayun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nian
authors.affiliation: Oncology Department, Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine affiliated to Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Oncology Department, Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine affiliated to Capital Medical University, Beijing, China School of Graduates, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jiao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Oncology Department, Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine affiliated to Capital Medical University, Beijing, China School of Graduates, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Oncology Department, Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine affiliated to Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xiaomin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Oncology Department, Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine affiliated to Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Guowang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Oncology Department, Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine affiliated to Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Oncology Department, Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine affiliated to Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Mingwei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Oncology Department, Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine affiliated to Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Ganlin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D026881:Acupuncture; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects*; D016206:Databases, Bibliographic; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D007970:Leukopenia / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000628:therapy*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012107:Research Design; D000078202:Systematic Reviews as Topic
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents
keywords: CHEMOTHERAPY; HAEMATOLOGY; ONCOLOGY