ABSTRACT Objective:To evaluate the therapeutic efficacy and safety of nimotuzumab plus radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of advanced nasopharyngeal cancer. Methods:Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the treatment of advanced nasopharyngeal cancer with nimotuzumab plus radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy (treatment group) vs. radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy (control group) were searched in PubMed, Embase, The Cochrane Library, CNKI, WanFang Data and VIP database from inception to September 20th, 2017. Conduct Meta analysis with extracted data from qualified included studies using the RevMan 5.3 software.Results: A total of 13 RCTs were included, including 839 patients. The results of Meta analysis showed that compared with the control group, the treatment group significantly increased the complete response rate [RR=1.37, 95%CI(1.14, 1.66), P<0.05], overall response rate [RR=1.19, 95%CI(1.04, 1.35), P<0.05], 1 year local control rate of tumor [RR=1.08, 95%CI(1.01, 1.17), P<0.05]. Meanwhile, compared with the control group, the treatment group didn’t decrease the incidence rate of leukocyte decrease [RR=0.80, 95%CI(0.56, 1.15), P>0.05], the incidence rate of platelet decrease [RR=0.75, 95%CI(0.53, 1.07), P>0.05], the incidence rate of nausea and vomiting [RR=0.86, 95%CI(0.47, 1.57), P>0.05], the incidence rate of liver function abnormalities [RR=0.85, 95%CI(0.52, 1.39), P>0.05]. 〖WTHZ〗Conclusion:〖WTBZ〗Therapeutic efficacy of nimotuzumab plus radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy was superior to the control in the treatment of advanced nasopharyngeal cancer, while the safety concerning the two groups were equivalent. Owing to the lower qualities of the included studies, the conclusion requireed further confirmation from well designed and large scale clinical trials. |