Efficacy and Safety of Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors in Advanced Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Harboring Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Mutation: a Network Meta-Analysis

AIM: mutation. MATERIALS & METHODS: Following a systematic literature review until December 2019, we conducted a random-effects pairwise and network meta-analyses (NMA). We ranked treatments for efficacy and safety based on the surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA). RESULTS: Tyrosine kinase inhibitors of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR-TKI) improved survival outcomes with fewer grade 3 or higher adverse events compared to chemotherapy. Overall survival results suggest that osimertinib has the highest probability of being the most efficacious (SUCRA, 79.9%), followed by dacomitinib (SUCRA, 75.8%). Adverse events results suggest that osimertinib (SUCRA, 84.3%) and gefitinib (SUCRA, 78.9%) has the highest probability of being the safest. CONCLUSION: In this NMA, we found that osimertinib is the most efficacious and safest EGFR-TKI. These results may guide clinicians in choosing the most appropriate treatment option among EGFR-TKIs for their patient's individual clinical characteristics.