{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,23]],"date-time":"2026-04-23T03:39:11Z","timestamp":1776915551679,"version":"3.51.2"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.","issue":"2","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["World J Methodol"],"abstract":"<jats:p>BACKGROUND<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>Cervical spondylotic radiculopathy (CSR), a prevalent form of cervical spondylopathy, significantly impacts patients\u2019 quality of life. Current management primarily relies on conservative approaches. In recent years, needle knife therapy, as a new type of therapy, has been used in the treatment of CSR.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>AIM<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>To evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of needle-knife therapy for CSR and compare its advantages over conventional treatments, including acupuncture, massage, and warm acupuncture.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>METHODS<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, PubMed, VIP Chinese Science and Technology Journal Database, China Biology Medicine, and other databases were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of needle-knife therapy for CSR from the establishment of the database to November 3, 2025. Two independent researchers performed literature screening based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria, followed by secondary screening and quality assessment. The Cochrane risk of bias tool was utilized for assessing the methodological quality of the included RCTs. Data synthesis and analysis were performed using RevMan 5.4 software, focusing on treatment effective rates, Visual Analog Scale (VAS) scores, Neck Disability Index (NDI) scores, and Yasushi Tanaka cervical spondylitis symptom scale 20 (YT20) scores.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>RESULTS<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>A total of 15 RCTs, encompassing 1184 patients (592 in the experiment group and 592 in the control group), were included in this meta-analysis. Potential high risks of bias in randomization, allocation concealment, and blinding procedures may adversely affect the overall methodological quality of the included trials. The results of meta-analysis showed that the effective rate of the experiment group was significantly higher than that of the control group [mean differences (MD) = 0.10, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.07-0.14, Z  = 6.03, P  \u2264 0.00001]; the safety and YT20 scores [safety: MD = 0.34, 95%CI: 0.14-0.83, Z  = 2.36, P  = 0.02, YT20 scores: standardized MD (SMD) = 2.05, 95%CI: 1.24-2.86, Z  = 4.94, P  \u2264 0.00001] in the experiment group were higher than those in the control group. The VAS score (SMD = -0.93, 95%CI: -1.59 to -0.27, P  \u2264 0.0001), NDI score (SMD = -4.04, 95%CI: -5.01 to -3.07, P  \u2264 0.0001) in the experiment group were lower than those in the control group. Significant heterogeneity was observed for VAS (I 2 = 99%) and NDI (I 2 = 84%) scores. Sensitivity analysis did not find significant reversal, indicating that the results of the included studies were reliable.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>CONCLUSION<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>Needle-knife therapy for CSR presents a higher efficacy and improved clinical outcome scores when contrasted with conventional treatments. However, these findings are constrained by the generally low quality of the included trials and notable heterogeneity observed in some studies. Consequently, the results should be interpreted with caution and considered preliminary. Further validation through larger, high-quality RCTs is warranted, given the existing limitations in sample size and methodological rigor.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.5662\/wjm.v16.i2.117496","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,23]],"date-time":"2026-04-23T02:53:58Z","timestamp":1776912838000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Needle knife therapy for cervical spondylotic radiculopathy: A systematic review and meta-analysis"],"prefix":"10.5662","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Yi-Ming","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Rui-Guo","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xiao-Hong","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Zhan-You","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Huan-Huan","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xiao-Fan","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Zi-Wei","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"2060","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1097\/MD.0000000000023880"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.20452\/wiitm.2024.17888"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1155\/2018\/3259431"},{"key":"B4","unstructured":"Wu JC, Li K, Yan K, Yuan M, Wen MY, Tu PA. [Effects of joint mobilization combined with routine rehabilitation treatment on cervical spondylotic radiculopathy in elderly patients]. Laonian Yixue Yu Baojian 2023; 54-57"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.13194\/j.issn.1673-842x.2018.12.005"},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.16367\/j.issn.1003-5028.2022.05.0163"},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.n71"},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.n160"},{"key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4103\/wjtcm.wjtcm_59_25"},{"key":"B10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.19589\/j.cnki.issn1004-6569.2017.12.011"},{"key":"B11","unstructured":"Yang RB. [Clinical effect analysis of small needle knife combined with acupuncture, massage, and traction in the treatment of cervical spondylotic radiculopathy]. Xiandai Zhenduan Yu Zhiliao 2019; 3525-3527"},{"key":"B12","unstructured":"Xu MY.   [Clinical Efficacy Observation of Acupuncture Knife Therapy for Cervical Spondylotic Radiculopathy. M.Sc. Thesis, Hubei University of Chinese Medicine]. 2018. Available from: https:\/\/kns.cnki.net\/kcms2\/article\/abstract?v=PZRn9VlzpTY82YPkjyoxKd3eL0Kr20WbbPlbzGV5RVBTxl0yc9udc2S8r36hwKWDMOAr1aZ3DegW-fCIDiUBPIHS9QWMdQSrv9xJ9DMla9Xh0PDtF8wDS43-kCp-YAMbFmjGvE4DMGRWGRSqTxLDAA73-wnDMz48ploCKltwcLqObVu65arkHlMDbwH4BBT9&uniplatform=NZKPT&language=CHS"},{"key":"B13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.13194\/j.issn.1673-842x.2019.07.044"},{"key":"B14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.13702\/j.1000-0607.20210968"},{"key":"B15","unstructured":"Wu YM. [Clinical Observation on the Treatment of Cervical Spondylotic Radiculopathy with Acupuncture Knife Combined with Acupuncture]. Shiyong Zhongyiyao Zazhi 2022; 653-655"},{"key":"B16","unstructured":"Ma X. [Analysis of the Effect of Acupuncture Knife Therapy in Treating Cervical Spondylotic Radiculopathy]. Dangdai Yiyao Luncong 2019; 49-51"},{"key":"B17","unstructured":"Hu WL. [The Therapeutic Effect of Acupuncture Knife in Treating Cervical Spondylotic Radiculopathy. China Rural Health]. Zhongguo Nongcun Weisheng 2019; 88-89"},{"key":"#cr-split#-B18.1","unstructured":"Zhou Y, Yan J, Hu JS, Tang HT. [Clinical Observation on the Treatment of Cervical Spondylotic Radiculopathy with Acupuncture Knife Combined with Acupuncture under the Guidance of the Thought of Preventing and Treating Diseases by Acupuncture]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 Annual Conference of the Chinese Acupuncture Society. 2022 Jul 19"},{"key":"#cr-split#-B18.2","unstructured":"Jinan, China. China: CNKI, 2022: 309-314"},{"key":"B19","unstructured":"Yin WJ, Xu J, Huang YS. [Clinical Research on Symptomatic NeedleKnife Therapy for Cervical Spondylotic Radiculopathy]. 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