What do systematic reviews say?

Probiotics vs placebo

• Probiotics for the prevention or treatment of chemotherapy‐ or radiotherapy‐related diarrhoea in people with cancer 2018 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  no estimate extracted
  3 studies · 128 participants
  Low

Anti‐cancer therapy vs best supportive care

Anti‐cancer therapy showed no clear difference in overall survival compared with best supportive care (moderate certainty).

• Chemotherapy and radiotherapy for advanced pancreatic cancer 2018 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  HR 1.08 [0.88, 1.33]
  4 studies · 298 participants
  Moderate

Gemcitabine combinations vs gemcitabine

Gemcitabine combinations showed no clear difference in overall survival ‐ Gemcitabine plus topoisomerase inhibitor compared with gemcitabine alone (high certainty).

• Chemotherapy and radiotherapy for advanced pancreatic cancer 2018 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  HR 1.01 [0.87, 1.16]
  3 studies · 839 participants
  High

Gemcitabine combinations vs gemcitabine

Gemcitabine combinations leads to lower overall survival ‐ Gemcitabine plus taxane compared with gemcitabine alone (high certainty).

• Chemotherapy and radiotherapy for advanced pancreatic cancer 2018 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  HR 0.72 [0.62, 0.84]
  1 study · 861 participants
  High

Gemcitabine combinations vs gemcitabine

Gemcitabine combinations may leads to lower overall survival ‐ Gemcitabine plus other combinations of chemotherapy compared with gemcitabine alone (low certainty).

• Chemotherapy and radiotherapy for advanced pancreatic cancer 2018 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  HR 0.55 [0.39, 0.79]
  2 studies · 166 participants
  Low

Gemcitabine combinations vs gemcitabine

Gemcitabine combinations showed no clear difference in overall survival ‐ Gemcitabine plus other agent(s) compared with gemcitabine alone (low certainty).

• Chemotherapy and radiotherapy for advanced pancreatic cancer 2018 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  HR 0.79 [0.56, 1.1]
  4 studies · 767 participants
  Low

Fluoropyrimidine combinations vs fluoropyrimidine alone

Fluoropyrimidine combinations showed no clear difference in overall survival compared with fluoropyrimidine alone (low certainty).

• Chemotherapy and radiotherapy for advanced pancreatic cancer 2018 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  HR 0.84 [0.61, 1.15]
  4 studies · 491 participants
  Low

Chemotherapy vs gemcitabine

Various types of chemotherapy probably leads to higher overall survival ‐ 5FU compared with gemcitabine (moderate certainty).

• Chemotherapy and radiotherapy for advanced pancreatic cancer 2018 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  HR 1.69 [1.26, 2.27]
  1 study · 126 participants
  Moderate

Chemotherapy vs gemcitabine

Various types of chemotherapy probably leads to lower overall survival ‐ FOLFIRINOX compared with gemcitabine (moderate certainty).

• Chemotherapy and radiotherapy for advanced pancreatic cancer 2018 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  HR 0.51 [0.43, 0.6]
  2 studies · 652 participants
  Moderate

Chemotherapy vs gemcitabine

Various types of chemotherapy leads to lower overall survival ‐ Fixed dose rate gemcitabine compared with gemcitabine (high certainty).

• Chemotherapy and radiotherapy for advanced pancreatic cancer 2018 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  HR 0.79 [0.66, 0.94]
  2 studies · 644 participants
  High

Chemotherapy vs gemcitabine

Various types of chemotherapy showed no clear difference in overall survival ‐ CO‐101 compared with gemcitabine (moderate certainty).

• Chemotherapy and radiotherapy for advanced pancreatic cancer 2018 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  HR 1.07 [0.86, 1.34]
  1 study · 367 participants
  Moderate

Chemotherapy vs gemcitabine

Various types of chemotherapy showed no clear difference in overall survival ‐ ZD9331 compared with gemcitabine (moderate certainty).

• Chemotherapy and radiotherapy for advanced pancreatic cancer 2018 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  HR 0.86 [0.42, 1.76]
  1 study · 55 participants
  Moderate

Chemotherapy vs gemcitabine

Various types of chemotherapy showed no clear difference in overall survival ‐ Exatecan compared with gemcitabine (moderate certainty).

• Chemotherapy and radiotherapy for advanced pancreatic cancer 2018 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  HR 1.27 [0.96, 1.68]
  1 study · 339 participants
  Moderate

Gemcitabine combinations vs gemcitabine

Gemcitabine combinations showed no clear difference in overall survival ‐ Gemcitabine plus platinum agent compared with gemcitabine alone (low certainty).

• Chemotherapy and radiotherapy for advanced pancreatic cancer 2018 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  HR 0.94 [0.81, 1.08]
  6 studies · 1140 participants
  Low

Gemcitabine combinations vs gemcitabine

Gemcitabine combinations leads to lower overall survival ‐ Gemcitabine plus fluoropyrimidine compared with gemcitabine alone (high certainty).

• Chemotherapy and radiotherapy for advanced pancreatic cancer 2018 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  HR 0.89 [0.81, 0.97]
  10 studies · 2718 participants
  High

Summary of findings: Conformal RT vs conventional dose RT

• Interventions to reduce acute and late adverse gastrointestinal effects of pelvic radiotherapy for primary pelvic… 2018 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  no estimate extracted
  0 participants
  GRADE not reported

Summary of findings: BT vs external beam radiotherapy (EBRT)

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

• Interventions to reduce acute and late adverse gastrointestinal effects of pelvic radiotherapy for primary pelvic… 2018 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  no estimate extracted
  Studies not reported
  No studies found

Probiotics vs placebo or control

Summary of findings: Probiotics may leads to lower diarrhoea (grade 2+) compared with control (placebo or no intervention) (low certainty).

• Interventions to reduce acute and late adverse gastrointestinal effects of pelvic radiotherapy for primary pelvic… 2018 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  RR 0.43 [0.22, 0.82]
  5 studies · 923 participants
  Low

Probiotics vs placebo or control

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

• Interventions to reduce acute and late adverse gastrointestinal effects of pelvic radiotherapy for primary pelvic… 2018 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  no estimate extracted
  Studies not reported
  No studies found

Summary of findings: Proteolytic enzymes vs placebo or control

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

• Interventions to reduce acute and late adverse gastrointestinal effects of pelvic radiotherapy for primary pelvic… 2018 · Cochrane Headline outcomes only
  no estimate extracted
  Studies not reported
  No studies found