ArticleBMJ open2022
Safety and efficacy of acupuncture for varicocele-induced male infertility: a systematic review protocol.
Article in BMJ open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed, 2 citations in OpenAlex.
- Electroacupuncture for sperm improvement in varicocele: a case report.The Canadian journal of urology · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionVaricocele (VC) is a common clinical disease in andrology. Among a number of ways for VC treatment, surgery is the most common one, but the measurable benefit of surgical repair was slight. A growing exploration of complementary therapies has been conducted in clinical research on acupuncture for VC, but there is no relevant systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the efficacy and safety of acupuncture for VC. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: All relevant publications published from database inception through August 2022 will be searched in three English-language databases (Embase, CENTRAL, MEDLINE) and four Chinese-language databases (China National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Science and Technology Journal Database, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database and Wanfang Data). Randomised controlled trials in English and Chinese concerned with acupuncture for patients with VC will be included. The input clinical data will be processed by the Review Manager software (RevMan). The literature will be appraised with the Cochrane Collaboration risk of bias tool. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation system (GRADE system) will be used to evaluate the quality of evidence. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study is a secondary study based on clinical studies so it does not relate to any individual patient information or infringe the rights of participants. Hence no ethical approval is required. The results will be reported in peer-reviewed journals or disseminated at relevant conferences. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42022316005.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.