Ho-ho-ho! Gather ’round, my little elves, for a tale of a quest not for toys, but for knowledge in the frosty realm of brain tumours, where the glial cells have turned naughty, and the neurosurgeons are in a tizzy trying to put them on the nice list. Despite the best efforts with the standard sack of treatments, these higher-grade glial tumours are as stubborn as a reindeer who won’t take off in a snowstorm, and the prognosis for the patients is as gloomy as a Christmas without snow.

But fear not, for there’s hope twinkling like the star atop the Christmas tree! The future might just hold a gift in the form of antitumour immunity against glioma, much like the way I empower the spirit of giving. To unwrap this potential present, a systematic review is being crafted, following the magical list known as the PRISMA guidelines, which is as important to researchers as my list of who’s been naughty or nice is to me.

The elves, I mean, the researchers, will embark on a sleigh ride through the vast winter wonderland of electronic databases, including PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and several others, checking it twice to ensure they only pick the original articles and clinical trials written in the universal language of English. They’ll then manually review the review articles, much like I check my list, to ensure no good study is left behind.

Once the list is made, two independent authors, as diligent as elves on Christmas Eve, will screen and select the studies, then extract the data like carefully removing toys from their packaging. They’ll check the data for consistency using statistical tests as magical as my reindeer’s flight, and if things look too varied, they’ll use a random-effects meta-analysis, which is like deciding to take the sleigh through a storm. If the data’s as smooth as a fresh layer of snow, they’ll use fixed-effects models.

To ensure that the review is as fair as the chance of every child getting a gift, they’ll assess the risk of bias with tests named after Begg and Egger, and use Funnel plots, which are as revealing as Rudolph’s red nose in fog.

Since this systematic review doesn’t involve any humans directly, there’s no need for ethical registration, just as I don’t need permission to slide down chimneys. The findings will be presented in a peer-reviewed journal, ready to be read like a Christmas tale by the fireplace. And with that, my dear friends, let’s hope this review brings good tidings and joy to the world of glioma treatment, much like a Christmas miracle. The registration number for this festive scientific endeavor is CRD42022373297. Merry research to all, and to all a good read! 🎅🎄