Characteristics of the incorporated studies.

Intracutaneous pyonex therapy (IPT), a novel acupuncture technique also known as intradermal thumbtack needle embedding therapy, has been reported to optimize postoperative pain management following perianal surgery. This meta-analysis aimed to analyze the efficacy of IPT for postoperative pain management following perianal surgery. The Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, CNKI, SinoMed, Wanfang, and VIP databases were systematically searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on IPT as a treatment for postoperative pain management following perianal surgery from inception until June 15, 2022. The analyzed outcomes from the eleven RCTs included in this meta-analysis were as follows: postoperative visual analogue scale(VAS), analgesic duration, ineffective cases following treatment, and adverse events. Subgroup analyses were conducted according to different time points. Risk-of-bias assessment, publication bias analysis, sensitivity analysis, and trial sequential analysis were performed. Of the 895 patients, 450 and 445 were included in the IPT and control groups, respectively. The IPT group showed a better analgesic effect[standard mean difference (SMD) = –0.77, 95% CI: –1.00 to –0.53, P < 0.00001; P for heterogeneity = 0.009, I2 = 59%] and longer analgesic duration [SMD = 0.56, 95% CI: 0.31 to 0.82, P < 0.0001; P for heterogeneity = 0.6, I2 = 0%], fewer ineffective cases following treatment [risk ratio(RR) = 0.23; 95% CI: 0.13 to 0.39, P < 0.00001; P for heterogeneity = 0.76, I2 = 0%], and lower overall occurrence of postoperative complications [RR = 0.35; 95% CI: 0.17 to 0.70; P = 0.003; P for heterogeneity = 0.85, I2 = 0%] than the control group. Thus, our findings indicated that IPT can provide better pain management following perianal surgery compared to controls. This novel approach complements a reasonable modality for postoperative multimodal analgesia and is worth promoting.