Journal of Acupuncture Research

Korean Acupuncture & Moxibustion Medicine Society (대한침구의학회)
권호 표지
DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

The Effectiveness and Safety of Acupuncture on Occipital Neuralgia: A Study Protocol for Systematic Review and/or Meta-Analysis

  • Jeong-Hyun Moon (College of Korean Medicine, Dongguk University Graduate School) ;
  • Gyoungeun Park (College of Korean Medicine, Dongguk University Graduate School) ;
  • Jung Eun Jang (Department of Acupuncture & Moxibustion, Dongguk University Ilsan Oriental Hospital) ;
  • Hyo-Rim Jo (Department of Acupuncture & Moxibustion, Dongguk University Bundang Oriental Hospital) ;
  • Seo-Hyun Park (Department of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation, Dongguk University Bundang Oriental Hospital) ;
  • Won-Suk Sung (Department of Acupuncture & Moxibustion, Dongguk University Bundang Oriental Hospital) ;
  • Yongjoo Kim (Department of Integrative Herbal Medicine Sciences, College of Korean Medicine, Sangji University) ;
  • Yoon-Jae Lee (Jaseng Spine and Joint Research Institute, Jaseng Medical Foundation) ;
  • Seung Deok Lee (Department of Acupuncture & Moxibustion, Dongguk University Ilsan Oriental Hospital) ;
  • Eun-Jung Kim (Department of Acupuncture & Moxibustion, Dongguk University Bundang Oriental Hospital)
  • Received : 2023.07.18
  • Accepted : 2023.08.03
  • Published : 2023.08.31
Download PDF
⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

Background: Occipital neuralgia (ON) is an established risk factor for headaches in the posterior cervical region. Several conservative treatments by nerve decompression and pain relief are available for ON, but these treatments have limitations. Acupuncture treatment, which is known to demonstrate analgesic effects, involves various stimulation methods, and several studies have reported their clinical benefit. No recent systematic review (SR) has compared each acupuncture type for ON treatment. Thus, this SR aims to investigate the clinical effectiveness of each acupuncture type for treating ON. Methods: We will identify relevant studies using electronic databases, including EMBASE, MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Korean Studies Information Service System (KISS), Korean Medical Database, KoreaMed, and National Digital Science Library (NDSL) from the inception until August 2023. The primary outcome will include the numerical change of pain symptoms (visual analog scale and numerical rating scale) and effective rate. Safety and secondary outcomes will include adverse events and quality of life. We will compare the conservative treatment with the acupuncture treatment using network meta-analysis. The Cochrane Collaboration "risk of bias" tools will be used to assess the quality of included trials. The Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation will be used to examine the evidence level. Conclusion: This study will provide clinical evidence of several acupuncture types for ON and help clinicians decide on the best.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This research was supported by a grant of the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (grant number HF22C0071). Funder only provided the financial support and did not involve in this article including the review, editing, or the submission for publication.

References

  1. Mirande MH, Smith HF. The potential roles of cervical plexus abnormalities in occipital neuralgia: an anatomic variant explored. Diagnostics (Basel) 2022;12:139. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics12010139 
  2. Cesmebasi A, Muhleman MA, Hulsberg P, Gielecki J, Matusz P, Tubbs RS, et al. Occipital neuralgia: anatomic considerations. Clin Anat 2015;28:101-108. doi: 10.1002/ca.22468 
  3. Hoffman LM, Abd-Elsayed A, Burroughs TJ, Sachdeva H. Treatment of occipital neuralgia by thermal radiofrequency ablation. Ochsner J 2018;18:209-214. doi: 10.31486/toj.17.0104 
  4. Mathew PG, Najib U, Khaled S, Krel R. Prevalence of occipital neuralgia at a community hospital-based headache clinic. Neurol Clin Pract 2021;11:6-12. doi: 10.1212/CPJ.0000000000000789 
  5. Swanson D, Guedry R, Boudreaux M, Muhlenhaupt E, Kaye AD, Viswanath O, et al. An update on the diagnosis, treatment, and management of occipital neuralgia. J Craniofac Surg 2022;33:779-783. doi: 10.1097/SCS.0000000000008360 
  6. Sahai-Srivastava S, Subhani D. Adverse effect profile of lidocaine injections for occipital nerve block in occipital neuralgia. J Headache Pain 2010;11:519-523. doi: 10.1007/s10194-010-0244-x 
  7. Oh HM, Chung ME. Botulinum toxin for neuropathic pain: a review of the literature. Toxins (Basel) 2015;7:3127-3154. doi: 10.3390/toxins7083127 
  8. Cohen SP, Peterlin BL, Fulton L, Neely ET, Kurihara C, Gupta A, et al. Randomized, double-blind, comparative-effectiveness study comparing pulsed radiofrequency to steroid injections for occipital neuralgia or migraine with occipital nerve tenderness. Pain 2015;156:2585-2594. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000000373 
  9. Kelly RB, Willis J. Acupuncture for pain. Am Fam Physician 2019;100:89-96. 
  10. Coutaux A. Non-pharmacological treatments for pain relief: TENS and acupuncture. Joint Bone Spine 2017;84:657-661. doi: 10.1016/j.jbspin.2017.02.005 
  11. Zheng H, Li C, Hu J, Zeng L. Effects of acupuncture in the treatment of occipital neuralgia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Medicine (Baltimore) 2022;101:e31891. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000031891 
  12. Yun JM, Lee SH, Cho JH, Kim KW, Ha IH. The effects of acupuncture on occipital neuralgia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Complement Med Ther 2020;20:171. doi: 10.1186/s12906-020-02955-y 
  13. Luo S, Ding G, Mo Q. [Effect of acupuncture assisted neuralgia in the treatment of patients with occipital neuralgia]. Shaanxi J Tradit Chin Med 2021;42:243-246. Chinese. doi:10.3969/j.issn.1000-7369.2020.02.027 
  14. Patel M, Urits I, Kaye AD, Viswanath O. The role of acupuncture in the treatment of chronic pain. Best Pract Res Clin Anaesthesiol 2020;34:603-616. doi: 10.1016/j.bpa.2020.08.005 
  15. Dai QX, Li S, Ren M, Wu X, Yao XY, Lin FH, et al. Analgesia with 5' extracellular nucleotidase-mediated electroacupuncture for neuropathic pain. Arq Neuropsiquiatr 2022;80:289-295. doi: 10.1590/0004-282X-ANP-2021-0149 
  16. Liu F, Zhou F, Zhao M, Fang T, Chen M, Yan X. Acupotomy therapy for chronic nonspecific neck pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2017;2017:6197308. doi: 10.1155/2017/6197308 
  17. Hwang JH, Ku J, Jeong JH. Pharmacopuncture for the management of musculoskeletal diseases: a protocol for systematic review. Medicine (Baltimore) 2020;99:e19082. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000019082 
  18. Page MJ, McKenzie JE, Bossuyt PM, Boutron I, Hoffmann TC, Mulrow CD, et al. The PRISMA 2020 statement: an updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews. BMJ 2021;372:n71. doi: 10.1136/bmj.n71 
  19. Hawker GA, Mian S, Kendzerska T, French M. Measures of adult pain: Visual Analog Scale for Pain (VAS Pain), Numeric Rating Scale for Pain (NRS Pain), McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ), Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ), Chronic Pain Grade Scale (CPGS), Short Form-36 Bodily Pain Scale (SF-36 BPS), and Measure of Intermittent and Constant Osteoarthritis Pain (ICOAP). Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken) 2011;63 Suppl 11:S240-S252. doi: 10.1002/acr.20543 
  20. Fontaine D, Blond S, Lucas C, Regis J, Donnet A, Derrey S, et al. Occipital nerve stimulation improves the quality of life in medically-intractable chronic cluster headache: results of an observational prospective study. Cephalalgia 2017;37:1173-1179. doi: 10.1177/0333102416673206 
  21. Higgins JP, Thompson SG. Quantifying heterogeneity in a meta-analysis. Stat Med 2002;21:1539-1558. doi: 10.1002/sim.1186 
  22. Rucker G, Schwarzer G. Ranking treatments in frequentist network meta-analysis works without resampling methods. BMC Med Res Methodol 2015;15:58. doi: 10.1186/s12874-015-0060-8 
  23. Guyatt GH, Oxman AD, Vist GE, Kunz R, Falck-Ytter Y, Alonso-Coello P, et al.; GRADE Working Group. GRADE: an emerging consensus on rating quality of evidence and strength of recommendations. BMJ 2008;336:924-926. doi: 10.1136/bmj.39489.470347.AD 
  24. Cumpston M, Li T, Page MJ, Chandler J, Welch VA, Higgins JP, et al. Updated guidance for trusted systematic reviews: a new edition of the Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2019;10:ED000142. doi: 10.1002/14651858.ED000142 
  25. Thomas DC, Patil AG, Sood R, Katzmann G. Occipital neuralgia and its management: an overview. Neurol India 2021;69(Suppl):S213-S218. doi: 10.4103/0028-3886.315978 
  26. Narouze S. Occipital neuralgia diagnosis and treatment: the role of ultrasound. Headache 2016;56:801-807. doi: 10.1111/head.12790 
  27. Sung WS, Goo BH, Kim EJ, Nam DW, Kim TH, Park YC, et al. Efficacy and safety of thread-embedding acupuncture for lumbar herniated intervertebral disc: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Eur J Integr Med 2020;39:101195. doi: 10.1016/j.eujim.2020.101195 
  28. Jo HR, Noh EJ, Oh SH, Choi SK, Sung WS, Choi SJ, et al. The effectiveness of different acupuncture therapies for neck pain: a protocol for systematic review and/or network meta-analysis. Medicine (Baltimore) 2021;100:e25379. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000025379 
  29. Seo BK, Sung WS, Park YC, Baek YH. The electroacupuncture-induced analgesic effect mediated by 5-HT1, 5-HT3 receptor and muscarinic cholinergic receptors in rat model of collagenase-induced osteoarthritis. BMC Complement Altern Med 2016;16:212. doi: 10.1186/s12906-016-1204-z