title: Network meta-analysis of Chinese herb injections combined with FOLFOX chemotherapy in the treatment of advanced colorectal cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Research has indicated that some Chinese herb injections (CHIs) might be beneficial in combination with chemotherapy, including remedies that might be used as effective chemosensitizers and radiosensitizers, or as palliative therapy. Here, we carried out a network meta-analysis to assess the clinical efficacy and safety of CHIs combined with oxaliplatin, 5-fluorouracil and leucovorin (FOLFOX) for advanced colorectal cancer (CRC).
  
  
  METHODS
  PubMed, EMBASE.com, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), Wanfang Database and Chinese Journal Full-text Database were searched from inception to 31 December 2014, to identify relevant randomized controlled trails (RCTs). The risk of bias in included RCTs was evaluated according to the Cochrane Handbook version 5.1.0. Standard pairwise meta-analysis and Bayesian network meta-analysis were performed to compare the efficacy and safety of different CHIs combined with FOLFOX. Data were analysed using STATA 12.0 and WinBUGS1.4 software.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We identified 63 eligible studies (with 4837 patients in total), involving 9 CHIs. Pairwise meta-analysis showed that compared with FOLFOX alone, combinations with Aidi injection and compound matrine injection could significantly improve the overall response rate and quality of life and reduce the incidence of nausea and vomiting (III-IV), diarrhoea (III-IV), thrombocytopenia (III-IV), leukopenia (III-IV) and peripheral neurotoxicity (III-IV). According to results of indirect comparison, there were no statistically significant differences for most of comparison groups. Aidi+FOLFOX, shenqifuzheng+FOLFOX and compound matrine+FOLFOX had the greatest probability of being the best treatment in clinical efficacy and safety, considering the small sample size.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most of the included studies were of low quality, and there was a scarcity of eligible trials and numbers of participants. Based on currently limited evidence, aidi, shenqifuzheng and compound matrine were superior to other CHIs in patients receiving FOLFOX chemotherapy for advanced CRC. More studies are required to confirm the efficacy of CHIs in combination with FOLFOX for advanced CRC.
authors.affiliation: The First Clinical Medical College, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.|Evidence-based Medicine Center, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.|Key Laboratory of Evidence-based Medicine and Knowledge Translation of Gansu Province, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.affiliation: School of Basic Medical Sciences, Gansu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Y-F
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Evidence-based Medicine Center, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.|Key Laboratory of Evidence-based Medicine and Knowledge Translation of Gansu Province, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: J-H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: The Second Clinical Medical College, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Gansu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Evidence-based Medicine Center, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: J-H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: X-P
authors.initials: XP
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Evidence-based Medicine Center, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.|Key Laboratory of Evidence-based Medicine and Knowledge Translation of Gansu Province, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: K-H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D007267:Injections; D002955:Leucovorin / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D009944:Organoplatinum Compounds / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011788:Quality of Life; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D009944:Organoplatinum Compounds; D002955:Leucovorin; D005472:Fluorouracil
keywords: Chinese herb injections; FOLFOX; colorectal cancer; network meta-analysis