Background: It is hypothesised that infusion of calcium and magnesium (Ca/Mg) can reduce the occurrence of oxaliplatin-related sensory neurotoxicity. However, more recent data have drawn a controversial picture concerning this topic.
Methods: A comprehensive literature search was performed using Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library and Google Scholar database up to 1st August 2011. Keywords for the search were: calcium, magnesium and oxaliplatin. The odd ratio (OR) for neurotoxicity and relative risk (RR) for tumour response rate were calculated.
Results: Seven studies (four randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and three cohorts) including a total of 1238 participants met our criteria. Meta-analysis of three RCT studies that reported in National Cancer Institute-Common Toxicity Criteria (NCE-CTC) showed that OR for neurotoxicity of Grade ~2 was not significant (OR 0.47; 95%confidence interval (CI) 0.22-1.00, P homogeneity = .729). The OR was also not significant in All Grades (OR 3.15, 0.32-31.35, P homogeneity = .952) and Grade 3 subgroup (OR 1.64, 0.30-9.00, P homogeneity = .656). No statistically significant difference was observed in RR for tumour response rate. (RR = 0.91, 0.78-1.06, P homogeneity = .33)
Conclusions: This meta-analysis does not support the hypothesis that infusion of Ca/Mg reduces the occurrence of neurotoxicity in oxaliplatin-treated patients with colorectal cancer measuring with NCE-CTC criteria. On the other hand, our results support the hypothesis that administrations of Ca/Mg do not impair the efficacy of oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy. However, large-scale randomised, controlled clinical trials will be required to confirm these hypotheses.
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