[Short-term efficacies of Fufangkushen Injection plus chemotherapy in patients with solid tumors: a meta-analysis of randomized trials].
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the short-term efficacies of Fufangkushen Injection plus chemotherapy in patients with solid tumors.


METHODS
A comprehensive retrieval of the relevant literatures was performed by searching major biomedical databases of Medline, Embase, the Cochrane Library, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), China Academic Journals Full-text Database (CNKI), Chinese Medical Current Contents (CMCC) and China Online Journals (Wangfang). And study selection and assessment, data collection and analysis were undertaken by two reviewers according to the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. Short-term efficacies were analyzed in each corresponding subgroup according to the type of tumor. Statistical analysis was performed by Review Manager Software 4.2 (RevMan 4.2).


RESULTS
Overall there were 33 studies of randomized controlled trials with a total of 2897 patients. All were of excellent homogeneity. The four subgroup-analyses (colorectal cancer, NSCLC (non-small cell lung cancer), breast cancer and gastric cancer) were performed with a fixed-effects model. The results of meta-analysis demonstrated that the short-term efficacies in patients with colorectal cancer, NSCLC and breast cancer receiving Fufangkushen Injection plus chemotherapy were significantly better than for those receiving chemotherapy alone (OR = 2.48 (1.59, 3.90), Z = 3.94, P < 0.0001; OR = 1.43 (1.20, 1.71), Z = 3.97, P = 0.0001; OR = 2.06 (1.28, 3.34), Z = 2.96, P = 0.003, respectively). However the patients with gastric cancer on combined chemotherapy were not significantly different from those on chemotherapy alone (OR = 1.25 (0.73, 2.13), Z = 0.81, P = 0.46).


CONCLUSIONS
Fufangkushen Injection might improve the efficacies of chemotherapy in patients with colorectal cancer, NSCLC and breast cancer. Further large-scale multicenter and better designed studies are warranted to offer more convincing evidences.
Laboratory of Clinical Pharmacy, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou 310022, China.
Luo
L
Fang
Neng-Ming
NM
Lin
Yun
Y
Fan
D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms