The Meta-Analysis of Bevacizumab Combined with Platinum-Based Treatment of Malignant Pleural Effusions by Thoracic Perfusion

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the safety of bevacizumab combined with platinum-based thoracic perfusion for treating lung cancer-related malignant pleural effusion (MPE) through meta-analysis. METHODS: The CNKI, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, Chinese Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP), and Wanfang Databases were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of bevacizumab combined with platinum-based thoracic perfusion for the treatment of MPE. The references included in the articles were manually searched for additional studies. A meta-analysis of the RCTs was conducted using the RevMan 5.3 application. RESULTS: A total of 8 studies involving 540 patients (271 cases in the test group and 269 cases in the control group) were included in the meta-analysis. The test group had a significantly greater risk of elevated blood pressure as well as a higher rate of complete remission (CR) compared to the control group (P < 0.05). In contrast, the incidence of partial remission (PR) was only slightly higher in the test group (P > 0.05), and the risks of leukopenia, vomiting or nausea, rhinorrhea, diarrhea, gastrointestinal bleeding or hemoptysis, proteinuria, abnormal kidney and liver function, arrhythmia, and rashes were not significantly different between the test and control groups (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Bevacizumab combined with platinum-based thoracic perfusion can achieve CR of MPE in patients with advanced lung cancer without significantly increasing the risk of adverse effects. The rate of PR was similar for the combination treatment and platinum-based infusion.