Efficacy comparison of lymph node involved-field irradiation and elective nodal irradiation for treatment of esophageal cancer among Asian populations:a Meta analysis / 肿瘤研究与临床

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the clinical efficacy of lymph node involved-field irradiation (IFI) and elective nodal irradiation (ENI) for treatment of esophageal cancer among Asian populations. Methods The randomized controlled trials and retrospective analyses of Asian esophageal cancer patients treated by IFI and ENI were retrieved by computer in Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase, CNKI, and Wanfang database. The last retrieval time was May 2018. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, the clinical efficacy, adverse reactions and failure modes were selected in each study. A Meta-analysis was performed by using Review Manager 5.3 software to compare the advantages and disadvantages of IFI group and ENI group in treatment of Asian esophageal cancer patients. Results Eventually, a total of 18 domestic and foreign literature that meet the standards (6 randomized controlled trials, 12 retrospective analyses) were included, with a total of 2220 patients. There were no significant differences in the overall survival rate, the local control rate, the local/regional failure rate, the distant metastasis rate, the intra-field recurrence rate, and the field recurrence rate between the IFI group and the ENI group (all P>0.05). The overall failure rate of ENI group was slightly lower than that of IFI group (P= 0.05). The incidence of radiation pneumonitis in ENI group was higher than that in IFI group (P= 0.004), and the incidence of radiation esophagitis was higher than that in IFI group (P< 0.01). Conclusion For Asian patients with esophageal cancer, ENI has no obvious advantage compared with IFI, including the increase of adverse reactions.