Abstract
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.
