Kong Yuan, Zhu Xiaoning, Zhang Xue, Li Zetian, Yin Yue, Wang Jing, Jia Hong
School of Public Health, Southwestern Medical University, Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, Luzhou, 646000, China.
Collaborating Center of the National Institute of Health Data Sciences of China, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, 646000, China.
Heliyon. 2023 Jul 26;9(8):e18591. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e18591. eCollection 2023 Aug.
BACKGROUND & AIMS: Traditional Chinese medicine and radiofrequency ablation are becoming increasingly important in the treatment of primary liver cancer. However, the clinical outcome of traditional Chinese medicine plus radiofrequency ablation is contentious. This study aimed to conduct a meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials to address this gap.
Short-term efficacy, alpha-fetoprotein level, immune function, liver function, and quality of life outcomes in patients with primary liver cancer treated with Chinese herbal medicine adjuvant radiofrequency ablation were systematically reviewed.
Eighteen randomized controlled clinical trials with 1488 patients with primary liver cancer were included. The combination treatment significantly increased the objective remission rate and quality of patient survival compared to the control group. Combination treatment significantly improved immunity and liver function factors, including CD3, CD4, CD4/CD8, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, total bilirubin, and albumin levels. However, there were no statistical differences in CD8 levels across treatments. Trial sequential analysis showed that the cumulative Z-curve of the Objective response rate crossed the conventional and test sequence monitoring boundaries; however, it did not cross the required information size line.
Traditional Chinese medicine combined with radiofrequency ablation for primary liver cancer can effectively reduce alpha-fetoprotein and improve clinical efficacy, immune function, liver function, as well as the quality of life.
中医药与射频消融在原发性肝癌的治疗中日益重要。然而，中医药联合射频消融的临床疗效存在争议。本研究旨在通过对随机对照临床试验进行荟萃分析来填补这一空白。
系统评价了接受中药辅助射频消融治疗的原发性肝癌患者的短期疗效、甲胎蛋白水平、免疫功能、肝功能和生活质量结局。
纳入了18项随机对照临床试验，共1488例原发性肝癌患者。与对照组相比，联合治疗显著提高了客观缓解率和患者生存质量。联合治疗显著改善了免疫和肝功能指标，包括CD3、CD4、CD4/CD8、谷丙转氨酶、谷草转氨酶、总胆红素和白蛋白水平。然而，各治疗组的CD8水平无统计学差异。序贯分析显示，客观缓解率的累积Z曲线越过了传统和试验序列监测界限；但未越过所需信息量线。
中医药联合射频消融治疗原发性肝癌可有效降低甲胎蛋白水平，提高临床疗效、免疫功能、肝功能及生活质量。
