The efficacy of different external treatment methods of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of cancer-related fatigue was analyzed by using network meta-analysis.

Searches were conducted on PubMed, China Journal Full-text Database, Embase platform and so on. Filter according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and obtain the network relationship diagram through stata15.0 analysis.

This study included 31 articles and 6 kinds of external treatment of traditional Chinese medicine. The results showed that the Piper's fatigue scale(PFS) score improvement was ranked as follows: transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation+ conventional treatment > auricular point sticking+ conventional treatment > acupuncture+ moxibustion+ conventional treatment > acupuncture+ conventional treatment > acupoint application+ conventional treatment > moxibustion+ conventional treatment > conventional treatment. Significant differences were also observed between traditional Chinese medicine external treatment combined with conventional treatment and conventional treatment (P<0.05). The results showed that the Karnofsky performance status(KPS) score improvement was ranked as follows: acupuncture+ moxibustion+ conventional treatment > acupuncture+ conventional treatment > moxibustion+ conventional treatment > acupoint application+ conventional treatment > auricular point sticking+ conventional treatment > conventional treatment. Among them, the top three intervention measures had statistically significant differences compared with conventional treatment (P<0.05).

External treatment of traditional Chinese medicine has a significant effect on improving cancer-related fatigue symptoms. However, due to the small sample size of this study, the results obtained in PFS and KPS scores are inconsistent, and the conclusion needs further confirmation.

Traditional Chinese medicine external treatment; Cancer-related fatigue; Network-Meta analysis