Cardiovascular Toxicities with Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors in Cancer Patients: A Meta-Analysis of 77 Randomized Controlled Trials.

Abstract

Use of the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (VEGFR-TKIs) has led to considerable improvements in the clinical outcome of patients with various tumor types. However, VEGFR-TKIs may be associated with increased incidence of cardiovascular toxicities. We conducted this meta-analysis to systematically review the risk of cardiovascular toxicities with VEGFR-TKIs in cancer patients. The relevant studies of the randomized controlled trials in cancer patients treated with VEGFR-TKIs were retrieved and a systematic evaluation was conducted. EMBASE, MEDLINE, and PubMed were searched for articles published until April 2018. A total of 77 randomized controlled trials and 27,353 patients were included. The current meta-analysis suggests that the use of VEGFR-TKIs significantly increases the risk of developing cardiovascular toxicities, such as all-grade and high-grade hypertension, all-grade bleeding, and all-grade cardiac dysfunction. Hypertension was the most common cardiovascular toxicity. There was no significant increased risk of all-grade and high-grade thromboembolism, high-grade bleeding, and high-grade cardiac dysfunction associated with these agents. The available data suggest that the use of VEGFR-TKIs is associated with a significantly increased risk of cardiovascular toxicities in cancer patients. Clinicians should be aware of this risk and perform regular cardiovascular monitoring.