Immunotherapy or Targeted Therapy Versus Best Supportive Care for Advanced Gastric Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Trials.

Purpose: To assess the efficacy and safety of non-chemotherapy anticancer drugs (immunotherapy or targeted therapy) compared to best supportive care (BSC) or placebo for the treatment of advanced gastric cancer (GC).

Methods: Systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) searching (May 2022) MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, Epistemonikos, ClinicalTrials.gov, and PROSPERO.

Minimal encephalopathy in hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia patients with portosystemic vascular malformations.

Background: Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is characterized by telangiectasia and larger vascular malformations. Liver malformations are the most frequent visceral involvement including the presence of portosystemic malformations (PSM) that can cause hepatic encephalopathy. Minimal hepatic encephalopathy (mHE) is characterized by alterations of brain function in neuropsychological or neurophysiological tests and decreases quality of life.

Utilising systematic reviews to assess potential overtreatment and claim for better evidence-based research: an analysis of anticancer drugs versus supportive care in advanced esophageal cancer.

Background: Highlighting the identified gaps in evidence-based research concerning advanced esophageal cancer (EC) treatment and care, this review evaluates the efficacy and safety of anticancer drugs compared to supportive care for advanced EC patients, aiming to assess the appropriateness of usual treatments and identify the gaps that need to be filled with primary research.

Methods: We searched (May 2022) MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Epistemonikos, and trial registries (ClinicalTrials.gov and PROSPERO) for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing anticancer drugs (chemotherapy, immunotherapy, or biological/targeted therapy) with supportive care in advanced EC.