title: Shenqi Fuzheng Injection for advanced gastric cancer: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the effectiveness of Shenqi Fuzheng Injection (, SFI) combined with chemotherapy for advanced gastric cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from 10 databases were searched for this meta-analysis till December 31, 2012 without language restriction. Grey literature and potential unpublished literature was also searched. The key search terms were "chemotherapy", "Shenqi Fuzheng Injection" and "advanced gastric cancer". Criteria were built to select these clinical trials, in which SFI combined with chemotherapy was compared with chemotherapy alone for advanced gastric cancer. The methodological quality of each RCT was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. RevMan 5.1 software was applied for data analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirteen RCTs involving 860 patients met the selection criteria (all articles were from Chinese databases). The meta-analysis showed positive results for the use of SFI combined with chemotherapy according to quality of life in terms of the scores when compared with chemotherapy alone. Positive results were also obtained for the combination treatment, in terms of complete remission and partial remission efficacy rate, body weight and decreased adverse events including nausea and vomiting at grade 3-4, oral mucositis at grade 1-2, leucopenia at grade 3-4, and myelo-suppression at grade 1-2.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This systematic review found encouraging albeit limited evidence for SFI combined with chemotherapy. However, to obtain stronger evidence without the drawbacks of trial design and the quality of studies, we recommend comparative effectiveness researches to test the effectiveness of combination treatment.
authors.affiliation: Evidence-Based Medicine Center, College of Basic Medicine, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jian-Cheng
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Rao
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Ke-Hu
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D007267:Injections; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D017594:Publication Bias; D011788:Quality of Life; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012307:Risk Factors; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; C521737:shenqi fuzheng