[Network meta-analysis on selecting Chinese medical injections in radiotherapy for esophageal cancer].

To assess the clinical effect and safety of Chinese traditional medicine injection combined with radiotherapy for esophageal cancer. The relative randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of Chinese medical injections (CMI) combined with radiotherapy as well as simple radiotherapy for esophageal cancer were searched from PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database(CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Database and VIP Database as at September 2014. Two researchers completed the data extraction and quality evaluation independently. The data were analyzed by GeMTC 0.14.3 and Stata 12. 0 software. Finally, 43 RCTs involving 3 289 patients were finally included. The star network was constructed by different comparison groups. The results of network meta-analysis showed that the seven CMIs combined with radiotherapy was superior to simple radiotherapy in the treatment of esophageal cancer in efficacy, quality of life, and reduction in the incidence of nausea and leucopenia, but with no significant difference among the seven CMIs. Probability ranking result showed a great possibility for Shenqi Fuzheng and astragalus polysaccharide injections in improving the overall response rate and quality of life, which were followed by cinobufagin and kangai injections. However, only one study was included for Shenqi Fuzheng and astragalus polysaccharide injections. Therefore, cinobufagin or kangai injections were preferred in improving the overall response rate and quality of life. Aidi or compound sophora injections were better than other CMIs in reducing? the incidences of nausea (III-IV) and leukopenia. More RCTs of Shenqi Fuzheng and astragalus polysaccharide injections combined with radiotherapy for patients with esophageal cancer were expected in the future to confirm our results. Moreover, study findings will be reported, particularly for the adverse events in radiotherapy for esophageal cancer.