A Scoping Review Protocol of the Efficacy and Safety of High-Dose Intravenous Vitamin C in the Treatment of Advanced Solid Tumors in African Populations

Background: High-dose intravenous vitamin C (HDIVC) has gained interest as an adjunctive therapy in cancer care due to its potential antioxidative and cytotoxic effects. Despite growing research, a comprehensive synthesis of the evidence on the efficacy and safety of HDIVC in advanced solid tumors remains limited. Materials and Methods: This review will follow the six steps of the Arksey and O’Malley framework, as adapted by Levac et al, namely: identifying the research question, identifying relevant studies, study selection eligibility, charting the data, collating, summarizing and reporting the results, and consultation. PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar databases will be used for the search of articles from 2000 – 2025. Grey literature will also be conducted. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and the Meta-Analysis for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) will be used as a guide for this scoping review protocol. A two-stage screening process will be used to determine the eligibility of articles with two independent reviewers. Discrepancies will be handled by consensus or by consulting an expert in cancer care. The selection of studies for the review is anticipated to be completed within 12 weeks, from 01 October to 31 December 2025. The extracted data will be analyzed and presented in a report. Conclusion: This scoping review will consolidate evidence on HDIVC for advanced solid tumors, identifying efficacy outcomes, safety profiles, and patient experiences in African populations that will inform clinical practice and guide policy making.<br>