[Retracted] Treatment Protocols in the Efficacy and Safety of Anti‐EGFR Medicines in Combination with Standard Therapy for Patients with Nasopharyngeal Cancer: A Meta‐Analysis

Abstract

Objective. This study was conducted to compare the efficacy of standard therapy (radiotherapy/RT/CT) with that of antiepidermal growth factor receptor (anti-EGFR) monoclonal antibody (NPC) therapy in patients with advanced nasopharyngeal cancer. Methods. A meta-analysis was performed to meet the objective of this study. The English databases PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science were searched. The literature review compared anti-EGFR-targeted therapy with conventional therapy practices. The main outcome measure was overall survival (OS). Secondary goals were progression-free survival (PFS), locoregional recurrence-free survival (LRRFS), distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), and adverse events (grade 3). Results. The database search resulted in 11 studies, with a total of 4219 participants. It was found that combining an anti-EGFR regimen with conventional therapy did not enhance OS ( hazard ratio HR = 1.18 ; 95 % confidence interval CI = 0.51 – 2.40 ; p = 0.70 ) or PFS appreciably ( HR = 0.95 ; 95 % CI = 0.51 – 1.48 ; p = 0.88 ) in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. While LRRFS increased considerably ( HR = 0.70 ; 95 % CI = 0.67 – 1.00 ; p = 0.01 ), the combined regimen did not improve DMFS ( HR = 0.86 ; 95 % CI = 0.61 – 1.12 ; p = 0.36 ). Treatment-related adverse events included haematological toxicity ( RR = 0.2 ; 95 % CI = 0.08 – 0.45 ; p = 0.01 ), cutaneous reactions ( RR = 7.05 ; 95 % CI = 2.15 – 23.09 ; p = 0.01 ), and mucositis ( RR = 1.96 ; 95 % CI = 1.58 – 2.09 ; p = 0.01 ). Conclusions. Individuals who have nasopharyngeal cancer do not have an increased chance of surviving until a local recurrence of their disease if they get normal therapy in addition to an anti-EGFR regimen. However, this combination does not enhance overall survival. On the other hand, this factor adds to an increase in the number of adverse effects.

Retracted: Treatment Protocols in the Efficacy and Safety of Anti‐EGFR Medicines in Combination with Standard Therapy for Patients with Nasopharyngeal Cancer: A Meta‐Analysis

“…This article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher [ 1 ]. This investigation has uncovered evidence of one or more of the following indicators of systematic manipulation of the publication process: Discrepancies in scope Discrepancies in the description of the research reported Discrepancies between the availability of data and the research described Inappropriate citations Incoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the article Peer-review manipulation …”

“…This article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher [1]. This investigation has uncovered evidence of one or more of the following indicators of systematic manipulation of the publication process:…”