Systematic review and network meta-analysis comparing Chinese herbal injections with chemotherapy for treating patients with esophageal cancer

• Published in: Journal of international medical research Vol. 48; no. 1; p. 300060519898336
• Main Authors: Zhang, Dan, Wu, Jiarui, Wang, Haojia, Zhou, Wei, Ni, Mengwei, Liu, Xinkui, Zhang, Xiaomeng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.01.2020; Sage Publications Ltd; SAGE Publishing
• Subjects: Antineoplastic Agents - therapeutic use; Chemotherapy; China; Drugs, Chinese Herbal - adverse effects; Drugs, Chinese Herbal - therapeutic use; Esophageal cancer; Esophageal Neoplasms - drug therapy; Esophagus - pathology; Gastrointestinal Diseases - prevention & control; Humans; Injections; Leukopenia - prevention & control; Medicine, Chinese Traditional - adverse effects; Medicine, Chinese Traditional - methods; Meta Analysis; Phytotherapy; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Systematic review; Traditional Chinese medicine; Treatment Outcome; China; adverse drug reactions; Chinese herbal injection; esophageal cancer; traditional Chinese medicine; network meta-analysis; systematic review; chemotherapy
• ISSN: 0300-0605; 1473-2300; 1473-2300
• DOI: 10.1177/0300060519898336

Objective This study compared Chinese herbal injections (CHIs) plus chemotherapy with chemotherapy alone in terms of clinical efficacy and safety for treating patients with esophageal cancer (EC). Methods Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of CHIs combined with chemotherapy for treating EC published in English and Chinese databases were identified. The main outcomes were clinical efficacy, performance status, and adverse reactions. Random-effects models were fitted to calculate the odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for all pair-wise comparisons. Results In total, 29 RCTs of eight CHIs were included in this study. The results of cluster analysis demonstrated that Compound Kushen injection plus chemotherapy was the optimal choice for improving the clinical efficacy rate. Shenfu injection was associated with a relatively high performance status. Compound Kushen injection and Shenfu injection were inferior to other CHIs in terms of preventing leukopenia and gastrointestinal side effects. Conclusions The combination of Compound Kushen injection with chemotherapy could improve efficacy and reduce adverse drug reactions versus chemotherapy alone in patients with EC.