Comparative Efficacy and Safety of Chinese Herbal Injections Combined With Cyclophosphamide and 5-Fluorouracil Chemotherapies in Treatment of Breast Cancer: A Bayesian Network Meta-Analysis.

Shuyu Liu,Mengwei Ni,Haojia Wang,Ruiqi Jin,Miaomiao Wang,Xiaomeng Zhang,Yifei Geng,Wenqian Yang,Jiarui Wu,Xiaohong Hu

doi:10.3389/fphar.2020.572396

Shuyu Liu, Mengwei Ni + Show 8 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2020.572396

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Abstract

Background: Given the limitations of chemotherapy for the treatment of breast cancer (BC) and the wide exploration of Chinese herbal injections (CHIs), this network meta-analysis (NMA) was conducted to analyze the comparative efficacy and safety of nine CHIs combined with CF (Cyclophosphamide and 5-Fluorouracil) chemotherapy regimens in the treatment of BC. Methods: Several electronic databases were searched to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from inception to January 6, 2020. RCTs were screened by pre-established eligibility criteria, and the quality of which was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Outcomes such as the clinical effectiveness rate, performance status, peripheral hemogram, and detection of T-lymphocyte subsets were analyzed using the Winbugs 1.4.3 and Stata 13.0 software. Surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) probability values were applied to rank the examined treatments. Cluster analysis was performed to compare the effect of CHIs between two or three different outcomes. Results: A total of 84 RCTs involving 7855 patients and nine CHIs were included. The results showed that compared to CF chemotherapy regimens alone, the ones injected along with Aidi, Shenmai, Shenqi Fuzheng, Kangai, Kanglaite, or Shengmai combined with CF can improve the clinical effectiveness rate. Aidi, Shenmai, Shenqi Fuzheng, Compound Kushen, Kangai, and Kanglaite injection combined with CF can improve the performance status. Shenqi Fuzheng injection was considered as a favorable choice for relieving adverse reactions. According to the results of cluster analysis, Aidi injection and Compound Kushen injection plus CF were more favorable for the clinical effectiveness rate and performance status. Conclusion: In conclusion, Shenqi Fuzheng, Compound Kushen, Aidi, and Kangai injection combined with CF chemotherapy regimen have more significant effects for patients with BC. However, more high-quality clinical RCTs, especialy which correctly use blinding and allocation concealment, are required to support the conclusions.

Highlights

Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most common cancers and the main cause of cancer death in women around the world (Siegel et al, 2019)
Based on the network meta-analysis (NMA) method, this study comprehensively evaluated the efficacy and safety of nine Chinese herbal injections (CHIs) combined with CF chemotherapy in the treatment of BC
The results of the study indicated that compared with the CF alone, Aidi injection (ADI), Shenmai injection (SMI), Shenqi Fuzheng injection (SQFZI), Kangai injection (KAI), Kanglaite injection (KLTI), and Shengmai injection (SI) combined with CF yielded significantly higher probability of improving the clinical effectiveness rate of BC patients

Summary

Introduction

Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most common cancers and the main cause of cancer death in women around the world (Siegel et al, 2019). The preliminary search found that many classic Meta-analysis have been published before to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of a single kind of CHI as an adjuvant treatment of breast cancer. Bayesian network meta-analysis (NMA) can have the advantages of combining direct and indirect evidence to compare multiple interventions This method can increase the credibility of the evidence and select the optimal CHIs for the BC treatment. This study used a NMA method to comprehensively evaluate the efficacy and safety of CHIs combined with CF (Cyclophosphamide and 5-Fluorouracil) chemotherapy regimen against BC. Given the limitations of chemotherapy for the treatment of breast cancer (BC) and the wide exploration of Chinese herbal injections (CHIs), this network meta-analysis (NMA) was conducted to analyze the comparative efficacy and safety of nine CHIs combined with CF (Cyclophosphamide and 5-Fluorouracil) chemotherapy regimens in the treatment of BC

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