Adjuvant phytotherapy in the treatment of cervical cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
OBJECTIVE
Clinical trials have investigated phytotherapy (PT) in the treatment of cervical cancer. This study aimed to assess the quality and data of current available trials, to compare the efficacy and safety of conventional therapies (CT) including surgical therapy, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy with that of CT plus PT (CT-PT), and to identify herbs used commonly in clinical trials.


METHODS
Forty-three (43) electronic databases were searched. The quality of eligible trials was assessed by Jadad's scale, and Revman 5.0 software was used for data syntheses and analyses.


RESULTS
(1) Of the 48 potential trials retrieved, 18 trials involving 1657 patients met the inclusion criteria, and two trials were graded as high-quality trials; (2) CT-PT achieved a higher 1-year survival rate (SR, p = 0.0002) and tumor remission rate (TRR, p < 0.0001) than CT alone; (3) PT showed therapeutic effects comparable to those of Western medications in diminishing vesical complications (VC, p < 0.0001) and rectal complications (RC, p = 0.08) caused by CT; (4) top 15 herbs used frequently to improve SR or TRR and to treat VC or RC in the retrieved trials were identified.


CONCLUSIONS
Adjuvant PT may improve the efficacy and safety of CT in clinical treatments of cervical cancer, although this result needs to be further verified by more high-quality trials.
Xu
Min
M
School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, 7 Baptist University Road, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, China. xumin@hkbu.edu.hk
Deng
Ping-Xiang
PX
Qi
Chen
C
Deng
Bin
B
Zhao
Zhong-Zhen
ZZ
Wong
Vivian
V
Ngan
Teresa
T
Kan
Vincent
V
Tian
Xiao-Ying
XY
Xu
Dong-Ying
DY
Au
Dawn
D
D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008517:Phytotherapy; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012074:Remission Induction; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality
D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; D010936:Plant Extracts