Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30882655›Full record

SynthesisMedicine2019

Evidence of Astragalus injection combined platinum-based chemotherapy in advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Ailing Cao, Hailang He, Qian Wang, Lei Li, Yajuan An, Xianmei Zhou

Open access · goldAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
11citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
3.0field-weighted citation impact, top 8% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

11 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Efficacy and Safety ofFrontiers in oncology · 2021
    Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Review
  7. Review
  8. Article
  9. Mechanism Prediction ofEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2021
    Article
  10. Review
  11. Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity · 2020
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Ailing CaoJiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine.
Hailang HeJiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine.
Qian WangJiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine.
Lei LiJiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine.
Yajuan AnAffiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China.
Xianmei ZhouJiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine.
Jiangsu Province Hospital · CNNanjing University of Chinese Medicine · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPlatinum-based chemotherapy is one of the standard treatments for advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Despite on an effective treatment for advanced NSCLC patients, its high toxicity and limited clinical effects have raised big concerns. Astragalus injection (AGI) has been commonly employed as an adjutant chemotherapy drug for NSCLC in China. This review was conducted to evaluate the beneficial of AGI in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy in advanced NSCLC.

methodsWe collected all studies about AGI plus platinum-based chemotherapy for advanced NSCLC in the PubMed, EMBASE, China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database, the Cochrane Library, Wanfang Database, China Biological Medicine Database, and Chinese Scientific Journal Database established on July 2018 without language restriction. Cochrane handbook was applied to assess the quality of included trials. Stata (version 12.0) and RevMan (version 5.3) were employed for data analysis. The quality of the evidence was assessed with the GRADE approach.

resultsNineteen randomized controlled trials (RCTs) including 1635 patients were included to determine the effectiveness and safety of AGI combined with platinum-based chemotherapy in the treatment of NSCLC. The result of meta-analysis indicated that comparing with chemotherapy alone, AGI combined chemotherapy could significantly improve the objective response rate (relative risk [RR] = 1.19, 95% confidence interval [CI] [1.06, 1.33], P = .002), the Karnofsky performance status (RR = 2.28, 95% CI [1.63, 3.18], P < .00001), and 1-year survival rate (RR = 1.40, 95% CI [1.16, 1.70], P = .0005), meanwhile increase the percentages of CD3 (weighted mean differences [WMD] = 11.98, 95% CI [8.0, 15.96], P < .00001), CD4 (WMD = 2.98, 95% CI [0.45, 5.52], P = .02), CD4/CD8 (WMD = 0.33, 95% CI [0.20, 0.46], P < .00001), and NK cells (WMD = 9.5, 95% CI [7.25, 11.76], P < .00001), decrease the incidence of leukopenia (RR = 0.52, 95% CI [0.44, 0.61], P < .00001), platelet toxicity (RR = 0.62, 95% CI [0.50, 0.76], P < .00001), and vomiting (RR = 0.72, 95% CI [0.60, 0.87], P = .0006). Based on the system evaluation results, the GRADE system recommendation grading method was adopted to evaluate the evidence quality. The results showed that the level of evidence was low.

conclusionsThe AGI apparently has attenuation and synergistic efficacy to platinum-based chemotherapy patients. However, considering the limits of articles included in the present researches, the recommendation is likely to be weak. High-quality RCTs are urgently used to generate conclusive results.

Indexed as

Astragalus PlantAntineoplastic AgentsAntineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy ProtocolsCarcinoma, Non-Small-Cell LungDrug SynergismHumansLung NeoplasmsMedicine, Chinese TraditionalPhytotherapyPlant ExtractsPlatinum CompoundsAntineoplastic AgentsPlant ExtractsPlatinum Compounds

Identifiers

PMID30882655
PMCPMC6426520
OpenAlexW2942534252

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.