Cetuximab, a chimeric antibody against epidermal growth factor receptor has emerged as an effective therapy for advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) and head-neck cancer. However, severe skin toxicity may limit its use. Its efficacy in the treatment of other cancers is also undergoing extensive investigation. We performed a systemic review and meta-analysis of published clinical trials to quantify the overall incidence and risk of severe skin rash.

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), developed for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), give modest results similar to those with chemotherapy. There is evidence of a greater survival benefit from TKIs in patients with certain molecular and clinical features, but results are conflicting. To assess the role of these factors in predicting TKI efficacy, a pooled analysis was performed on data from randomized trials in NSCLC.

Significant uncertainty exists regarding the efficacy of high-dose chemotherapy and autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (AHCT) for the treatment of patients with primary systemic (AL) amyloidosis. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy of AHCT versus conventional chemotherapy (CC) in patients with AL amyloidosis using methodology recommended by the Cochrane Collaboration. A comprehensive literature search yielded 820 studies. Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria: 1 randomized controlled trial (RCT), 2 other controlled studies, and 9 single-arm trials. The 1 RCT and 2 controlled studies compared AHCT and CC, and 9 single-arm studies assessed the efficacy of AHCT without a control. The pooled hazard ratio for overall survival (OS) in the 3 controlled studies was 1.79 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.11 to 2.91) favoring CC. The pooled proportion for mortality in the single-arm studies (n = 7) was 0.35 (95% CI = 0.25 to 0.46). The pooled odds ratio for complete hematologic response (CHR) from 2 controlled studies was 0.64 (95% CI = 0.25 to 1.64), indicating no difference between AHCT and CC. In the single-arm studies, the pooled proportion for CHR was 0.35 (95% CI = 0.26 to 0.44), and the pooled proportion for treatment-related mortality (TRM) was 0.12 (95% CI = 0.09 to 0.14). In the controlled studies, there was no heterogeneity for any outcome; however, in the single-arm studies, there was a significant heterogeneity for the outcomes of OS, CHR, renal response, and partial hematologic response. Our findings indicate that AHCT does not appear to be superior to CC in improving OS in patients with AL amyloidosis. But the quality of our evidence is low, indicating a need for well-designed and adequately powered RCTs to better address the role of AHCT in AL amyloidosis.

Although locoregional treatments such as hepatic arterial infusion (HAI) claim the advantage of delivering higher doses of anticancer agents directly into the metastatic organ as compared to systemic chemotherapy (SCT), the benefit in terms of overall survival (OS) is unclear. We quantitatively summarized the results of randomised controlled trials (RCT) comparing HAI to SCT for the treatment of unresectable liver metastatic disease from colorectal cancer (CRC).

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common global cancer. When HCC is detected early, interventions such as percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI), percutaneous acetic acid injection (PAI), and radiofrequency thermal ablation (RFTA) have curative potential and represent low invasive alternatives to surgery. The role of PEI or PAI has not been addressed in a systematic review.

A meta-analysis was performed to assess the efficacy and safety of cetuximab-based therapy vs noncetuximab therapy in advanced or metastatic colorectal cancer.

Green tea is a commonly consumed beverage in Asia and has been suggested to have anti-inflammatory and possible anti-carcinogenic properties in laboratory studies. We sought to examine the association between green tea consumption and risk of breast cancer incidence or recurrence, using all available epidemiologic evidence to date. We conducted a systematic search of five databases and performed a meta-analysis of studies of breast cancer risk and recurrence published between 1998 and 2009, encompassing 5,617 cases of breast cancer. Summary relative risks (RR) were calculated using a fixed effects model, and tests of heterogeneity across combined studies were conducted. We identified two studies of breast cancer recurrence and seven studies of breast cancer incidence. Increased green tea consumption (more than three cups a day) was inversely associated with breast cancer recurrence (Pooled RR = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.56-0.96). An analysis of case-control studies of breast cancer incidence suggested an inverse association with a pooled RR of 0.81 (95% CI: 0.75, 0.88) while no association was found among cohort studies of breast cancer incidence. Combining all studies of breast cancer incidence resulted in significant heterogeneity. Available epidemiologic evidence supports the hypothesis that increased green tea consumption may be inversely associated with risk of breast cancer recurrence. The association between green tea consumption and breast cancer incidence remains unclear based on the current evidence.

Patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer with an intermediate or high risk need adjuvant intravesical therapy after surgery. Based largely on meta-analyses of previously published results, guidelines recommend using either bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) or mitomycin C (MMC) in these patients. Individual patient data (IPD) meta-analyses, however, are the gold standard.

Erythropoiesis-stimulating agents are used to treat anemia in patients with cancer. However, their safety and effectiveness is controversial. We did a systematic review of the clinical efficacy and harms of these agents in adults with anemia related to cancer or chemotherapy.

Chinese herbal therapy is sometimes used in conjunction with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in Asian countries. This study aims to systemically review the efficacy of Chinese herbal therapy in HCC patients receiving TACE.

Although numerous clinical trials have demonstrated the efficacy and tolerability of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) in patients with chemotherapy-induced anemia (CIA), results of some recent trials and one meta-analysis have suggested that ESAs may negatively impact survival and/or disease control in patients with cancer.

Homeopathic medicines are used by patients with cancer, often alongside conventional treatment. Cancer treatments can cause considerable morbidity and one of the reasons patients use homeopathic medicines is to help with adverse effects.

Combination chemotherapy regimens are frequently favoured over single agents for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer, in an attempt to achieve superior tumour response rates. It is not known however whether giving more intensive chemotherapy regimens results in better health outcomes, when both survival and toxicity are considered, and whether better response rates and rates of progression free survival actually translate to better overall survival.

We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Fluorouracil (FU)/Leucovorin (LV)/Oxaliplatin compared to FU/LV in treating advanced colorectal cancer.

Various nonhormonal agents have been used for the treatment of hot flashes in women with natural or tamoxifen-induced menopause. Some studies have reported that gabapentin appears to be an effective and well-tolerated treatment modality.

Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) are now regarded as the optimum hormonal therapy for postmenopausal women with hormone receptor positive breast cancer. However, it is unclear which of the currently available AIs offers patients the most effective and the best-tolerated treatment strategy. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized-controlled trials that compared AIs (as first-line agents) with standard hormonal treatment in patients with breast cancer. The results suggest that letrozole offers a more favorable side-effect profile particularly in terms of musculoskeletal adverse events. However, the available data suggests a small survival benefit from the use of anastrozole although patients treated with anastrozole appear to have a more favorable disease profile at study entry. Examination of survival data on adjuvant tamoxifen therapy from these trials supports this observation.

Treatment with cyclophosphamide (CYC) confers up to a 40% risk of ovarian failure in women of reproductive age. The use of GnRH agonists (GnRHa) to preserve ovarian function has been investigated in several small studies. We performed a systematic review of studies examining whether a GnRHa administered during chemotherapy is protective of ovarian function and fertility.

It is uncertain whether evidence supports routinely estimating a postmenopausal woman's risk of breast cancer and intervening to reduce risk.

Doublet chemotherapy is more effective than single-agent as first-line treatment of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). As second-line treatment, several randomized trials have been performed comparing single-agent with doublet chemotherapy, but each trial had an insufficient power to detect potentially relevant differences in survival.