[A meta-analysis of the curative effects of carboplatin-based and cisplatin-based chemotherapeutic regimens on advance non-small cell lung cancer]

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate whether there is a difference in the curative effect of carboplatin-based and cisplatin-based chemotherapeutic regimens on advance non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods: The databases PudMed, CENTRAL, and Chinese biomedical database were retrieved by using the key words "non-small cell lung cancer" or "carcinoma, non-small cell lung" so as to search the materials about the randomized controlled clinical trials that had compared the curative effects of carboplatin-based and cisplatin-based chemotherapeutic regimens on advance NSCLC. A meta-analysis was conducted.

Results: Eighteen documents about randomized controlled clinical trials, including 6478 patients, from the retrieved 3531 documents accorded to the demand of enrollment. The overall response rates of the carboplatin-based and cisplatin-based chemotherapeutic groups were both 27% (RR = 0.93, 95% CI = 0.86 approximately 1.01, P = 0.10). Neither funnel plot nor rank correlation test regarding response rate indicated the existence of publication bias (chi(2) = 18.63, P = 0.63). The 0ne-year survival rate of the carboplatin-based regimen group was 36%, not significantly different from that of the cisplatin-based regimen group (35%, RR = 1.04, 95% CI = 0.93 - 1.17, P = 0.5). Sensitive analysis confirmed the non-existence of differences in the overall response rate and one-year survival rate between these 2 groups.

Conclusion: The curative effects of the carboplatin-based and cisplatin-based chemotherapeutic regimens are similar. The choice of carboplatin or cisplatin depends on the toxicity of the drugs and the patients' tolerance.