Author/Authors :
Davari, Majid Department of Pharmacoeconomics and Pharmaceutical Administration - Faculty of Pharmacy - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , Amani, Bahman Department of Health Management and Economics - School of Public Health - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , Mokarian, Fariborz Breast cancer Research center - Isfahan University of Medical Science, Isfahan, Iran , Hoseini, Mohsen Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology - School of Health - Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran , Akbarzadeh, Arash Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics - School of Public Health - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , Heidarzadeh Khoramabadi, Nastaran Department of Drug and Food Control - School of Pharmacy - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Abstract :
Background: Trastuzumab in combination with chemotherapy has long been established as a standard treatment for HER2-positive
patients in early stage breast cancer (BC). The present study aimed at assessing the effectiveness of trastuzumab adjuvant therapy in
early stage BC in overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS).
Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of trastuzumab adjuvant therapy. Pub-
Med, Cochrane library, Scopus, Web of Science, and Embase databases were searched for relevant RCTs from the beginning to February
2017. Quality assessment of studies was conducted using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool. The desired outcomes were OS and DFS.
Results: A total of 1818 articles were identified first, however, only 11 studies were eligible to be included in this study. Our findings
and meta-analysis results revealed that trastuzumab is effective in increasing OS (OS hazard ratio: -0.286 ± 0.049, 95%CI (-0.381, -
0.191)) and improving DFS (DFS hazard ratio: -0.419± 0.077, 95%CI (-0.569, -0.269)). The most serious but negligible side effect of
trastuzumab is congestive heart failure.
Conclusion: Adding trastuzumab as adjuvant therapy in early stages of BC in HER2 positive patients could increase OS and DFS of
the patients effectively.
Keywords :
Adjuvant Therapy , Meta-analysis , Herceptin , Breast Cancer , Trastuzumab
