Adjuvant EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors for patients with resected EGFR-mutated non-small-cell lung cancer: a network meta-analysis

Aim: To investigate the efficacy and safety of adjuvant EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors for resected EGFR-mutated non-small-cell lung cancer. Materials & methods: Eligible phase II/III randomized controlled trials were included for the network meta-analyses (PROSPERO CRD42021275150). Results: Nine records and 831 patients were involved. Adjuvant chemotherapy followed with osimertinib significantly prolonged disease-free survival compared with chemotherapy (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.2; 95% CI: 0.14–0.29), chemotherapy followed with erlotinib (HR: 0.33; 95% CI: 0.18–0.6), chemotherapy followed with gefitinib (HR: 0.36; 95% CI: 0.16–0.82), gefitinib (HR: 0.26; 95% CI: 0.17–0.41) and icotinib (HR: 0.56; 95% CI: 0.3–0.98). Icotinib was the least likely to cause grade ≥3 adverse events. Conclusion: Chemotherapy followed with osimertinib brings about the best disease-free survival. Icotinib monotherapy shows the best safety.