Epidermal Growth Factors for diabetic foot ulcers: a protocol for a rapid review embedded in an overview of reviews

The purpose of the project is to provide an overview of the current evidence on the effectiveness of topical recombinant human epidermal growth factor (EGF) in the treatment of diabetic foot ulcer (DFU). Specifically, it intends to answer the question of how certain and reliable the current evidence is for the use of epidermal growth factors in managing diabetic foot ulcers. This review will follow a two-step procedure. In the first step, we will appraise current knowledge of the efficacy of EGF interventions by conducting a comprehensive search of systematic reviews. The aim will be to identify eligible trials and to evaluate the overlap of the evidence using a citation matrix of trials across reviews. This step may be considered an umbrella review-like procedure, primarily used to locate index primary studies that could be used in a second step to evaluate the evidence base of current knowledge through an embedded rapid review. In the second step, we will evaluate the evidence already obtained against the inclusion criteria and update it with any new information by searching PubMed and trial registries. This search will be restricted to studies published in the past 10 years to capture any trials not previously included in the overview of systematic reviews.