Objective: To compare the efficacy between hypofractionated radiotherapy versus conventionally fractionated radiotherapy in post-mastectomy breast cancer by a meta-analysis. Methods: The controlled clinical trials of comparing hypofractionated radiotherapy versus conventionally fractionated radiotherapy in post-mastectomy breast cancer were searched from PubMed, EMbase, Cochrane Library, Wanfang database, VIP, CNKI, and CBM databases. The obtained data were analyzed using RevMan 5.3 and Stata 14.0 software. The differences between two groups were estimated by calculating the odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: A total of 19 controlled clinical trials involving 2652 post-mastectomy breast cancer patients were selected in this meta-analysis according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The meta-analysis results demonstrated that no statistical significance was observed in the tumor-free survival (OR=1.10, 95%CI: 0.78-1.56, P=0.59), overall survival (OR=1.18, 95%CI: 0.92-1.53, P=0.19), locoregional recurrence (OR=1.01, 95%CI: 0.68-1.51, P=0.96), distant metastasis (OR=1.14, 95%CI: 0.82-1.59, P=0.43), skin toxicity (OR=1.01, 95%CI=0.80-2.16, P=0.96), cardiac toxicity (OR=1.17, 95%CI: 0.71-1.93, P=0.53) and pulmonary toxicity (OR=0.78, 95%CI: 0.44-1.37, P=0.38) between two groups. Conclusions Hypofractionated radiotherapy and conventionally fractionated radiotherapy post-mastectomy yield similar clinical efficacy, both of which are safe and efficacious radiotherapy patterns. However, the findings remain to be validated by large-scale randomized clinical trials with long-term follow-up of the advanced stage complications.

Objective: To compare the efficacy of postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy and non-radiotherapy in patients with extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma and gallbladder carcinoma by a meta-analysis. Methods: The controlled clinical trials of postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy versus non-radiotherapy of extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma and gallbladder carcinoma were searched from PubMed, EMbase, Cochrane Library, Wanfang database, CNKI, Chongqing VIP and CBM databases. The obtained data were analyzed using RevMan 5.3 and Stata 14.0 statistical software. The difference between two groups was estimated by calculating the odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: A total of 20 controlled clinical trials involving 1258 extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma and gallbladder carcinoma patients were included in this meta-analysis. The meta-analysis demonstrated that the 5-year survival rate in the adjuvant radiotherapy group was significantly higher than that in the non-radiotherapy group (OR=1.67, 95%CI: 1.29-2.18, P=0.001). The 5-year survival rates in those with lymph node positive disease (OR=7.44, 95%CI: 1.24-44.72, P=0.03) and positive margins disease (OR=3.43, 95%CI: 1.56-7.75, P=0.002) were significantly enhanced by postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy. The local recurrence rate in the adjuvant radiotherapy group was significantly lower than that in the non-radiotherapy group (OR=0.56, 95%CI: 0.39-0.80, P=0.01), whereas the distant metastasis rate did not significantly differ between two groups (OR=1.22, 95%CI: 0.86-1.73, P=0.27). The incidence rates of acute toxicity and chronic toxicity of grade ≥3 caused by radiotherapy were 0-11.9% and 0-21.7%, respectively. Conclusion Compared with non-radiotherapy, postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy is a safer and more effective postoperative treatment for extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma and gallbladder carcinoma.