Post-chemotherapy nausea remains a significant burden to cancer patients. While some studies indicate that expecting nausea is predictive of experiencing nausea, there are a number of conflicting findings.

This meta-analysis was undertaken to assess the efficacy and safety of drug-eluting stents (DESs) compared to bare metal stents (BMSs) in saphenous vein graft (SVG) interventions. DESs decrease the risk of target vessel revascularization in native coronary arteries compared to BMSs. The ideal treatment strategy in patients with SVG disease is unknown. A search of the published reports was conducted to identify studies that compared DESs and BMSs in SVG intervention with a minimum follow-up of 6 months. A total of 19 studies (2 randomized trials and 17 registries), including 3,420 patients who had undergone SVG intervention (DESs, n = 1,489 and BMS, n = 1,931), met the selection criteria. The mean length of follow-up was 20 + or - 12 months. Using the fixed effect model, target vessel revascularization was less frequently performed in patients who had undergone SVG intervention with a DES than with a BMS (odds ratio [OR] 0.59, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.49 to 0.72). The incidence of myocardial infarction was lower in patients with a DES than in those with a BMS (OR 0.69, 95% CI 0.49 to 0.99). No differences were found in the risk of death (OR 0.78, 95% CI 0.59 to 1.02) or stent thrombosis (OR 0.41, 95% CI 0.15 to 1.11) between the 2 groups. In conclusion, these findings support the use of DESs in SVG lesions.

Moxibustion is a traditional Chinese method that uses the heat generated by burning herbal preparations containing Artemisia vulgaris to stimulate acupuncture points. Considering moxibustion is closely related to acupuncture, it seems pertinent to evaluate the effectiveness of moxibustion as a treatment of symptoms of cancer. The objective of this review was to systematically assess the effectiveness of moxibustion for supportive cancer care.

The previous individual patient data meta-analyses of chemotherapy in locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) showed that adding sequential or concomitant chemotherapy to radiotherapy improved survival. The NSCLC Collaborative Group performed a meta-analysis of randomized trials directly comparing concomitant versus sequential radiochemotherapy.

Sunitinib and sorafenib are oral vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) used in a vast range of cancers. Arterial thromboembolic events (ATE) have been described with these agents, although the overall risk remains unclear. We did a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the incidence and the relative risk (RR) associated with the use of sunitinib and sorafenib.

Life-threatening diarrhoea is observed in up to 25% of cancer patients receiving irinotecan. The associations between the UGT1A1*28 polymorphism and irinotecan-induced diarrhoea remains controversial because of conflicting data in the literature. Meta-analyses were performed on published data in terms of relationships between UGT1A1*28 and severe diarrhoea. We searched databases for relevant studies that were published in English or Chinese. Two reviewers extracted data and assessed methodological quality. UGT1A1*28 related odds ratios (ORs) were pooled by use of a fixed-effects model. The studies included were stratified into subgroups representing different races and irinotecan doses, and meta-regression analyses were performed to investigate the effect of study characteristics on the association between UGT1A1*28 and diarrhoea. Twenty trials including a total of 1760 cancer patients were included. The risk of severe diarrhoea at medium and high irinotecan doses was higher among patients with a UGT1A1*28/*28 genotype than among those with a UGT1A1*1/*1 genotype (OR=3.69, 95% confidence interval [CI]=2.00-6.83; P<0.001). Considering the patients with a UGT1A1*1/*28 genotype, the risk of toxicity was also higher than among those with a wild-type genotype at medium and high doses (OR=1.92, 95% CI=1.31-2.82; P=0.001). No association was observed between UGT1A1*28 and severe diarrhoea at low doses (<125 mg/m(2)). In conclusion, patients carrying UGT1A1*28 allele(s) are at an increased risk of irinotecan-induced severe diarrhoea. This increased risk is only apparent in those who are administrated with medium or high irinotecan doses.

There is clear evidence from two systematic reviews that radiotherapy (RT) reduces the risk of local recurrence in patients with resectable rectal cancer, though the data on survival are still equivocal.

The use of anthracyclines is limited by the occurrence of cardiotoxicity. In an effort to prevent this cardiotoxicity, different anthracycline derivates have been studied.

Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for more than 85% of all cases of lung cancer. The 5-year survival of patients presenting with advanced stage NSCLC is less than 15%, indicating that additional treatment options are needed. Bevacizumab is a recombinant humanized version of the murine anti-human vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) monoclonal antibody with a high binding specificity for VEGF.

Hypertension is associated with the use of bevacizumab, an angiogenesis inhibitor widely used in cancer therapy. Currently, the risk of severe hypertension associated with bevacizumab is unclear. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of published randomized-controlled clinical trials (RCTs) to assess the risk of high-grade hypertension in cancer patients treated with bevacizumab.

The objectives of this review are to compare the effectiveness and safety of radiochemotherapy (RTCT) with radiotherapy (RT) alone in locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC).

The risk of cardiovascular toxicities is a serious concern with the increased application of angiogenesis inhibitors in current cancer therapy. Arterial thromboembolic events (ATE) were associated with bevacizumab, an antibody against vascular endothelial growth factor. To determine the risk of ATE including cardiac ischemia and stroke, a systematic review and meta-analysis of published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was performed.

Pharmacological therapy has been considered as the first-line treatment for patients with uncomplicated benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of tamsulosin compared with a placebo for treating BPH.

One tenth of the lethal dose to 10% of mice is one of the conventional parameters used to derive a safe starting dose in phase I trials of cytotoxic agents. There is no consensus on which preclinical models and parameters should define the starting dose for molecularly targeted agents.

Recent data on drug-eluting stents have shown improved clinical outcomes in patients with diabetes mellitus. However, the relative efficacy and safety of sirolimus-eluting stents (SES) compared with paclitaxel-eluting stents (PES) remains controversial. Therefore, a meta-analysis of randomized trials was performed to compare SES with PES exclusively in patients with diabetes. The published research was scanned by formal searches of electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASE and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials) from January 2001 to April 2009. All randomized trials involving head-to-head comparison of SES versus PES in patients with diabetes were examined for analysis. A total of 5 randomized trials were included in the present meta-analysis, involving 1,173 patients (594 in the SES group, 579 in the PES group). SES were significantly more effective in the reduction of target lesion revascularization (5.1% vs 11.4%, odds ratio [OR] 0.41, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.26 to 0.64, p <0.001) and angiographic binary (> or =50%) restenosis (5.6% vs 16.4%, OR 0.30, 95% CI 0.19 to 0.48, p <0.001) compared to PES. In contrast, the differences between SES and PES were not statistically significant with respect to cardiac death (2.2% vs 2.9%, OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.34 to 1.47, p = 0.35), myocardial infarction (1.5% vs 2.6%, OR 0.58, 95% CI 0.26 to 1.31, p = 0.19), and stent thrombosis (0.6% vs 1.2%, OR 0.57, 95% CI 0.18 to 0.84, p = 0.35). In conclusion, SES are superior to PES in reducing the incidences of restenosis and target lesion revascularization in patients with diabetes, with nonsignificant differences in terms of cardiac death, myocardial infarction, and stent thrombosis.

Indolent non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, in particular follicular lymphoma (FL), is characterized by multiple remissions and relapses. Several studies have used interferon-alpha (IFN) to control this disease, both as induction and as maintenance therapy. It is not yet clear whether IFN can be associated with a survival benefit although it may prolong progression-free survival.

Several randomised clinical trials (RCTs) of analgesics in postoperative pain after traumatic or orthopaedic surgery (TOS) have been published, but no studies have assessed the quality of these reports. We aimed to examine the quality of reporting RCTs on analgesics for postoperative pain after TOS.

Recent data suggest that fractures might affect quality of life and survival in early breast cancer patients. Bisphosphonates are effective in treatment and prevention of cancer treatment-induced bone loss, but their value in the prevention of fractures is still investigational. Our aim was to evaluate the fracture rate in breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant bisphosphonates compared with those receiving no treatment or placebo.

There is no effective systemic therapy for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) except liver transplantation. Sorafenib, a multikinase inhibitor, has been shown to significantly increase overall survival (OS) in a randomized, placebo-controlled, phase III trial of patients with HCC (SHARP). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of sorafenib for advanced HCC by carrying out a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials that compared sorafenib-based therapy with other agent-based therapy. Randomized controlled trials comparing sorafenib or combined chemotherapy with placebo or combined chemotherapy in advanced HCC between 2000 and 2008 were identified and the data were extracted from reports. Outcomes analyzed were objective response rate, time to progression (TTP), OS, and toxicity. The summary hazard ratios (HRs), odds ratios, and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for mortality, objective response rate, and toxicity were estimated. All statistical tests were two-sided. Three trials including 924 patients were identified. Sorafenib-based chemotherapy was also associated with a 79% prolongation of TPP (HR = 0.58, 95% CI = 0.49-0.69, P<0.001), and a 37.3% increase in OS (HR = 0.66, 95% CI = 0.55-0.78, P<0.001). Despite significant increases in the frequencies of hand-foot syndrome and diarrhea in patients receiving sorafenib-containing chemotherapy, no significant difference in other toxic events was observed. This meta-analysis suggests that sorafenib-based chemotherapy is superior to placebo-based chemotherapy in terms of TPP and OS without increase in severe toxic effects.