Efficacy of Afatinib in the Treatment of Patients with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Several randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluated the afatinib efficacy in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and recurrent/metastatic head neck squamous carcinoma (R/M HNSCC). This review systemically outlined meta-analyzed NSCLC R/M HNSCC terms of overall survival (OS) progression-free (PFS) endpoints. Records were retrieved from PubMed, Web Science, ScienceDirect 2011 to 2020. Eight RCTs included assessed for risk bias. In meta-analysis, pooled effect size (ES) OS group (AG) significantly improved all NSCLC-RCTs [hazard ratios (HRs): 0.89 (95% CI: 0.81–0.98, p = 0.02); I2 0%, 0.71/ 0.86 0.76–0.97; 0.50, respectively]. ES PFS AG RCTs, NSCLC-RCTs, HNSCC-RCTs [HRs: 0.75 0.68–0.83; < 0.00001); 26%, 0.24; 0.66–0.84; 47%, 0.15/0.76 0.65–88; 0.0004); 34%, 0.0004, From a clinical viewpoint severity, interstitial disease, dyspnea, pneumonia, acute renal failure, injury rarely incident adverse events group. conclusion, first- second-line monotherapy NSCLC, while could be promising HNSCC. The prospective protocol is PROSPERO (ID CRD42020204547).