Efficacy and safety of thalidomide combined with VAD regimen in treatment of multiple myeloma: a Metaˉanalysis of Chinese literature / 白血病·淋巴瘤

ABSTRACT

Objective To analyze the clinical efficacy and safety of thalidomide combined with VAD regimen (vincristine+epirubicin+dexamethasone) or VAD regimen alone in treatment of multiple myeloma (MM) by using metaˉanalysis. Methods Thalidomide combined with VAD regimen was selected as the experimental group and VAD regimen alone was selected as the control group. The literatures were searched from CNKI, Wanfang and VIP database. And then the inclusive literatures were further searched. Randomized controlled trials eligible to the exclusive criteria were extracted, and the quality was evaluated. Metaˉanalysis was conducted by using Stata14.0 software. Results A total of 17 studies and 940 patients were included. The experimental group had a higher total effective rate compared with the control group , and the difference was statistically significant ( RR＝ 1.41, 95% CI 1.30-1.59, P< 0.01). Meanwhile, the experimental group had a better efficacy in improving hemoglobin and deducing βˉmacroglobulin (MG), M protein and myeloma cells compared with the control group; however, the experimental group also had a worse gastrointestinal reaction, and the difference was statistically significant ( RR＝ 1.36, 95% CI 1.04-1.78, P＝ 0.024). Conclusion Thalidomide combined with VAD regimen in treatment of MM has a better clinical efficacy compared with VAD regimen alone, but it also has a worse adverse reaction.