Needle knife therapy for cervical spondylotic radiculopathy: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Table 2 Basic characteristics of the include literature

Ref.	Nation	Sample size	Duration of treatment	Interventions	Therapeutic process	Outcome indicator	Safety evaluation
Deng[10], 2017	China	E: 30 C: 30	E: 3 weeks C: 3 weeks	E: N + C C: C	E: Once every 2 days	Effective rate	N
					C: Once a day	VAS
Yang[11], 2019	China	E: 30 C: 30	E: 3 weeks C: 3 weeks	E: N + C C: C	E: Once every 2 days	Effective rate	Y
					C: Once a day	VAS, NDI, YT20
Xu[12], 2018	China	E: 33 C: 33	E: 4 weeks C: 4 weeks	E: N C: C	E: Once every day	Effective rate	N
					C: Once every day	VAS, YT20
Wang and Huo[13], 2019	China	E: 43 C: 43	E: 2 weeks C: 2 weeks	E: N C: C	E: Once every day	Effective rate	N
					C: Once every day	VAS, NDI, YT20
Li et al[14], 2022	China	E: 30 C: 30	E: 6 weeks C: 6 weeks	E: N C: C	E: Once every day	Effective rate	N
					C: Once very day	VAS
Wu et al[15], 2022	China	E: 18 C: 18	E: 2 weeks C: 2 weeks	E: N + C C: C	E: Once every 3 days	Effective rate	Y
					C: Once every day	VAS, NDI
Ma[16], 2019	China	E: 102 C: 102	E: 2 weeks C: 2 weeks	E: N C: C	E: Once every 2 days	Effective rate, VAS	N
					C: Once every day
Hu[17], 2019	China	E: 30 C: 30	E: 4 weeks C: 4 weeks	E: N C: C	E: Once every day	Effective rate, VAS,	Y
					C: Once every day
Zhou et al[18], 2022	China	E: 50 C: 50	E: 4 weeks C: 4 weeks	E: N + C C: C	E: Once a week	Effective rate	Y
					C: Once every day	VAS, NDI
Yin et al[19], 2024	China	E: 50 C: 50	E: 2 weeks C: 2 weeks	T: N C: C	E: Once ten days	Effective rate	N
					C: Once every day	VAS, NDI
Li et al[20], 2023	China	E: 53 C: 53	E: 3 weeks C: 3 weeks	E: N + C C: C	E: Once every day	Effective rate	N
					C: Once every day	VAS, NDI
Liu et al[21], 2024	China	E: 30 C: 30	E: 2 weeks C: 2 weeks	E: N C: C	E: Once every day	Effective rate	N
					C: Once every day	VAS, NDI, YT20
Zhang and Yao[22], 2020	China	E: 30 C: 30	E: 3 weeks C: 3 weeks	E: N C: C	E: Once every day	Effective rate	N
					C: Once every day	VAS
Jin[23], 2021	China	E: 33 C: 33	E: 4 weeks C: 4 weeks	E: N C: C	E: Once every day	Effective rate, VAS, NDI	N
					C: Once every day	Effective rate, VAS, YT20
Li and Wang[24], 2021	China	E: 30 C: 30	E: 3 weeks C: 3 weeks	E: N C: C	E: Once every day		N
					C: Once every day

E: Experiment group; T: Control group; N: Needle knife; C: Conventional therapy; VAS: Visual Analog Scale; NDI: Neck Disability Index; YT20: Yasushi Tanaka cervical spondylitis symptom scale 20 scores.