Tumori
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Fast-track surgery has been shown to enhance postoperative recovery. The objective of the study was to determine the differences of fast-track surgery and conventional care for patients with gastroenteric neoplasms. ⋯ Current trials show that fast-track surgery may reduce the length of hospital stay and lower the rate of complications of gastroenteric surgery.
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Review Meta Analysis
Use of trastuzumab in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer beyond disease progression: a systematic review of published studies.
Trastuzumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody directed against the extracellular domain of ErbB, has determined clinical benefit for women affected by metastatic or early stage HER2-positive breast cancer and never previously treated with trastuzumab. Trastuzumab is generally used as first-line treatment of HER2+ metastatic breast cancer and is currently administered beyond progression even without clear evidence supporting such clinical practice. In fact, HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer has a high risk of progressing after first-line therapy, and second-line treatments vary. The aim of the study was to investigate by a systematic review the efficacy of trastuzumab-based treatments beyond progression in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer. ⋯ The added value of the present study has been to provide a quantitative summary measure of time to progression which can be used for comparisons between current and future available regimens.
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A meta-analysis of diagnostic test performance was conducted to compare the results of relevant studies reporting diagnostic accuracy values for mediastinal staging in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This paper deals with the two most accurate imaging techniques currently in use: positron emission tomography (PET) with FDG and computed tomography (CT). A statistical pooling method was used to perform a quantitative meta-analysis aimed at demonstrating the potential advantage of one of these two methods. ⋯ Numerical and visual results of the meta-analysis of recent relevant reports agreed that FDG-PET is more accurate than CT in identifying mediastinal lymph node metastases in non-small cell lung cancer.
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Meta Analysis Comparative Study
Adjuvant chemotherapy in gastric cancer: a meta-analysis of randomized trials and a comparison with previous meta-analyses.
Up to now adjuvant chemotherapy after curative resection for gastric cancer (GC) has been considered an experimental approach. The results of existing phase III randomized trials comparing chemotherapy with control after surgery are controversial. Three meta-analyses have been published in recent years. It is likely that each of them presents a theoretical bias, mainly as regards the inclusion criteria of the trials. In this article we re-examine this potential bias, highlighting the differences between the present and past meta-analyses on adjuvant chemotherapy for GC. ⋯ Our meta-analysis would seem to indicate that adjuvant chemotherapy results in a significant survival advantage in patients with GC. However, this observation undoubtedly requires confirmation in large randomized controlled trials including cisplatin before adjuvant chemotherapy after curative resection for GC can be proposed for use in clinical practice.