METHODS
The research protocol (202024) for this study was developed in compliance with the revised Helsinki Declaration on Human Biomedical Research, Good Clinical Practice Guidelines, and local laws and regulations. The protocol was evaluated and approved by the Ethics Committee of Ya'an People's Hospital on February 12, 2020. Prior to inclusion in the study, informed consent was obtained from all recruited patients after thoroughly explaining the study protocol to them. The investigators responsible for outcome evaluation, data management, and analysis were blinded to patient enrollment and treatment processes. The study was registered with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR) on November 5, 2020 (ChiCTR2000039695). Further details regarding the filtering and registration process can be found in the study protocol.