Ultrasound-guided acupotomy for trigger finger: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Trigger finger is a common condition in the hand, and ultrasound-guided acupotomy for trigger finger has been widely used in recent years. Purpose This study aims to investigate the efficacy and safety of ultrasound-guided acupotomy for trigger finger. Methods We searched for relevant studies in the Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Embase, PubMed, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), Wanfang Data, and other resources from their inception to January 2023. Randomized controlled trials of ultrasound-guided acupotomy for trigger finger were included. The meta-analysis was carried out using Review Manager 5.4 and Stata 15.1. Results Overall, 15 studies with 988 patients were included. The experimental group was treated with ultrasoundguided acupotomy, and the Control group received traditional acupotomy, traditional operation or injection of medication. Meta-analysis showed that the overall clinical effectiveness (OR = 4.83; 95% CI 2.49-9.37; I-2 = 73.1%; P < 0.001) in the experimental group was significantly better than that of the control group. And the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score (WMD = -1; 95% CI -1.24, - 0.76; I-2 = 99%; P < 0.001), the QuinneII classification (WMD = -0.84; 95% CI -1.28, -0.39; I-2 = 99.1%, P < 0.001), the incidence of complications (RR = 0.26; 95% CI 0.11, 0.63; I-2 = 0%, P = 0.003), and the recurrence rate (RR = 0.14; 95% CI 0.03, 0.74; I-2 = 0%; P = 0.021) were significantly lower in the experimental group. Conclusion Our systematic review and meta-analysis can prove the effectiveness and safety of ultrasound-guided acupotomy in the treatment of trigger finger, but this still needs to be verified by a clinical standard large sample test.