[Preoperative induction chemotherapy for resectable stage IIIA non-small-cell lung cancer: a meta-analysis of 13 double-blind, randomized clinical trials.].
BACKGROUND
The role of Preoperative chemotherapy in patients with resected nonsmall-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains unclear, this study is aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of Preoperative chemotherapy in patients with resected non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), by performing a meta-analysis of relevant trials.


METHODS
Searching the literature from MEDLINE, pubmed, OVID, The Cochrane library, Cancerlit, Clinicaltrials.gov, ASCO, ESMO and CBM database, a meta-analysis was carried out to compare patients with NSCLC receiving chemotherapy before surgery with those undergoing surgery alone. The odds ratio (OR) was estimated to assess the survival advantage of Preoperative chemotherapy.


RESULTS
Thirteen eligible randomized controlled trials (RCT) were identified, including 2561 patients, the meta-analysis showed preoperative chemotherapy improved survival with a OR of 0.80 (95% confidence interval, 0.68-0.94; P =0.008) in a subset analysis patients with IIIa stage also benefit from the preoperative chemotherapy. There was no evidence of statistical heterogeneity.


CONCLUSIONS
This analysis shows a significant benefit of preoperative chemotherapy and is currently the best estimate of the effectiveness of this therapy.
Dai
Yun
Y
Department of Pulmonary, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai Chest Hospital, Shanghai 200030, China.
Han
Baohui
B
Shen
Jie
J
Qi
Dajiang
D
Jiang
Liyan
L
Gu
Jianqing
J
Chu
Tianqing
T
Dong
Yu
Y
Shi
Hui
H