Colchicine in the Management of Oral Submucous Fibrosis: A Systematic Review, Meta-analysis, and GRADE-Based Assessment of Certainty of Evidence

Purpose: To study the efficacy of Colchicine in the management of Oral Sub mucous Fibrosis (OSMF) through systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods:An extensive literature search was conducted on databases such as PubMed, Cochrane Library database, LILACS, Google Scholar, CTRI, and Google search engine. The search comprises all articles published from 2013 to 2022. A total of 10 randomized control trial studies involving colchicine as one of the interventions were included. [CRD42022377674] Results:10 randomized control comprising 456 subjects were included. 3 studies are included in the meta-analysis comprising 90 subjects. All three studies show that there are significant differences between colchicine and other intervention regarding mouth opening and burning sensation. It indicates that Colchicine is significantly more effective in the reduction of burning sensation than other interventions used as a control in OSMF. Conclusion: The evidence generated through this systemic review and meta-analysis suggest that the use of an oral form of colchicine is an effective measure in the management of OSMF, especially the subjective symptom such as burning sensation where as it is not found to be much effective in case of mouth opening. If colchicine is used as co drug along with conventional injection therapy better will the result. However there is marked diversity among the studies reviewed; therefore, the results of this review should be interpreted very carefully.