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. 2018 Jun 26;7(1):89.
doi: 10.1186/s13643-018-0754-1.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimens in treatment of breast cancer: a systematic review and network meta-analysis protocol

Mona Pathak  1 , Sada Nand Dwivedi  2 , S V S Deo  3 , Bhaskar Thakur  1 , Vishnubhatla Sreenivas  1 , G K Rath  4
Affiliations

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimens in treatment of breast cancer: a systematic review and network meta-analysis protocol

Mona Pathak et al. Syst Rev. .

Abstract

Background: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT), a standard of care for locally advanced breast cancer patients, is widely used for early breast cancer patients also. The varying role of regimens used as NACT needs to be investigated. Despite availability of some randomized controlled trials (RCTs), it is unclear which treatment regimen suits best. Further, there is no study comparing all the three regimens. Accordingly, present study will compare the efficacy of anthracyclines, taxanes, and targeted therapy administered in neoadjuvant setting on the basis of oncological outcomes and functional outcomes.

Method/design: Online databases PubMed and Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials will be searched to acquire eligible studies. Further, content of relevant journals, references of relevant articles, and proceedings of major related conference will also be searched. The RCTs comparing any of abovementioned regimen as NACT on breast cancer patients will be eligible. Two reviewers independently and in duplicate will screen the records on the basis of title and abstract and complete full-text review to determine eligibility. Similarly, data extraction and risk of bias assessment will be done by two independent reviewers. The pair-wise meta-analysis as well as network meta-analysis will be conducted to assess the relative efficacy of anthracyclines, taxanes, and targeted therapy regimens.

Discussion: The present systematic review will improve the understanding of the relative efficacies of the three treatment regimens and possibly guide the clinical practices by providing the current best evidence on the efficacy of various regimens of NACT in the management of breast cancer patients.

Systematic review registration: PROSPERO ( CRD42016027236 ).

Keywords: Anthracycline; Bevacizumab; Breast cancer; Network meta-analysis; Taxane; Trastuzumab.

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Conflict of interest statement

Authors’ information

MP is a Ph.D. student under the guidance of SND and co-guidance of SVS and VS. SND, SVS, VS, and GKR are professor, and BT is ex-PhD student in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, India.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Present study is approved by Ethics Committee for Post graduate research, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. It does not involve individual participant’s data.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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