Objective To assess the effectiveness and safety of hyperthermia combined with chemotherapy for advanced colorectal cancer. Methods Databases such as CNKI, VIP, WanFang Data, CBM, EMbase, PubMed and The Cochrane Library (Issue 3, 2012) were electronically searched from the date of their establishment to June, 2012, and the relevant literature and conference proceedings were also manually searched to include randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on comparison of chemotherapy with hyperthermia plus chemotherapy for advanced colorectal cancer. Two reviewers independently screened studies according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted data, and assessed the methodological quality of the included studies. Then the meta-analysis was performed by using RevMan 5.1 software. Results A total of 11 RCTs involving 708 patients with advanced colorectal cancer were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that: a) as for effectiveness, the chemotherapy combined with hyperthermia group was superior to the chemotherapy group in the partial improve rate (OR=1.65, 95%CI 1.39 to 1.97, Plt;0.000 01) and the total effective rate (OR=3.59, 95%CI 2.51 to 5.12, Plt;0.000 01), with significant differences; b) as for safety, the chemotherapy combined with hyperthermia group was lower than the chemotherapy group in the incidence of neurotoxicity (OR=0.50, 95%CI 0.33 to 0.75, P=0.000 8). Conclusion Compared with chemotherapy, chemotherapy combined with hyperthermia can increase partial improve rate and total effective rate and reduce the incidence of neurotoxicity. Due to the limitation of the included studies, large sample size, multicenter, high quality studies are needed to verify the above conclusion. We recommend that chemotherapy combined with hyperthermia therapy could be applied to clinic combining individual conditions of patients.
Objective To systematically review the effectiveness and safety of carvedilol and metoprolol for primary hypertension. Methods Such databases as PubMed, EMbase, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library, CBM, CNKI, VIP and WanFang Data were electronically searched for relevant studies from inception to December, 2012. Two reviewers independently screened literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria as well as the methods recommended by the Cochrane Collaboration, extracted data, and assessed the methodological quality of the included studies. Then, meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.1 software. Results 7 trials involving 2 243 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed no significant difference in the reduction of systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate between the carvedilol and metoprolol groups (Pgt;0.05). However, the carvedilol group was superior to the metoprolol group in improving serum triglyceride (MD=0.75, 95%CI 0.45 to 1.04, Plt;0.000 01), serum cholesterol (MD=0.38, 95%CI 0.19 to 0.56, Plt;0.000 1), serum low density lipoprotein (MD=0.59, 95%CI 0.33 to 0.85, Plt;0.000 01), serum high density lipoprotein (MD= –0.09, 95%CI –0.16 to –0.02, P=0.008), and fasting plasma glucose (MD=0.36, 95%CI 0.21 to 0.51, Plt;0.000 01). In addition, the incidence of drug related adverse reaction was significantly lower in the carvedilol group (OR=0.39, 95%CI 0.24 to 0.63, P=0.000 1). Conclusion Based on current evidence, carvedilol tends to have beneficial effects on metabolic parameters and safety profiles, compared with metoprolol.