SynthesisBMJ open2023
Combination immunochemotherapy for recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in BMJ open, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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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.
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.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 2 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neoadjuvant Pembrolizumab Combined with Chemotherapy for Locally Advanced Resectable Oral and Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinomas: A Single-center Retrospective Study.Journal of Cancer · 2026Article
- Winners of the 2022 honor awards for excellence at the annual meeting of the Chinese Medical Association-Taipei: Part IV.Journal of the Chinese Medical Association : JCMA · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo evaluate the efficacy and safety of combination immunochemotherapy regimens for the treatment of recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (R/M HNSCC).
designMeta-analysis and systematic review. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane library and the Clinicaltrials.gov clinical trials registry were searched up to 14 March 2022. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SELECTING STUDIES: We included randomised controlled trials that compared combination immunochemotherapy with conventional chemotherapy for R/M HNSCC. Primary outcomes of interest were overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), objective response rate (ORR) and adverse effects (AEs). DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: Two reviewers independently extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of the included studies. The HR and its 95% CI were used as the effect analysis statistic for survival analysis, while the OR and its 95% CI were used as the effect analysis statistic for dichotomous variables. These statistics were extracted by the reviewers and aggregated using a fixed-effects model to synthesise the data.
resultsA total of 1214 relevant papers were obtained after the initial search, and five papers that met the inclusion criteria were included; these studies included a total of 1856 patients with R/M HNSCC. Meta-analysis showed that the OS and PFS of patients with R/M HNSCC in the combination immunochemotherapy group were significantly longer than those in the conventional chemotherapy group (HR=0.84; 95% CI 0.76, 0.94; p=0.002; HR=0.67; 95% CI 0.61, 0.75; p<0.0001), and the ORR was significantly higher (OR=1.90; 95% CI 1.54, 2.34; p<0.00001). The analysis of AEs showed that there was no significant difference in the overall incidence rate of AEs between two groups (OR=0.80; 95% CI 0.18, 3.58; p=0.77), but the rate of grade III and IV AEs was significantly higher in patients in the combination immunochemotherapy group (OR=1.39; 95% CI 1.12, 1.73; p=0.003).
conclusionsCombination immunochemotherapy prolonged OS and PFS in patients with R/M HNSCC and improved the ORR; while this approach did not increase the overall incidence of AEs in patients, it increased the rate of grade III and IV AEs. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42022344166.
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