. 2024 Jan 16;23:15347354231225961. doi: 10.1177/15347354231225961

Table 2.

Characteristics of the Included SRs/Mas.

Author and Country	Trials (Samples)	Participant	Intervention group	Control group	Main TCM type	Quality assessment	Main results
Tan et al,³² China	40 (3029)	Advanced GC	TCM + oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy	Oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy	Formula, Chinese patent medicine	Cochrane Criteria	Overall, CHM has a positive effect on improving oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy for AGC, which can improve short-term efficacy and reduce the incidence of AEs.
Zhang et al,³³ China	12 (853)	Advanced GC	TCM + Conventional chemotherapy	Conventional chemotherapy	TCM injection	Cochrane Criteria	Our study still provided helpful information for clinical practice that Cinobufacini injection could enhance the efficacy of other treatments in AGC patients, reduce the side-effects induced by chemotherapy, and help to relieve cancer pain, which might be helpful for clinical medication.
Sun et al,³⁴ China	27 (1939)	Advanced GC	TCM + Conventional chemotherapy	Conventional chemotherapy	Chinese patent medicine, TCM injection	Cochrane Criteria	In summary, this meta-analysis indicated that cinobufotalin and chemotherapy combined therapy was effective in treating advanced GC. Clinical application of cinobufotalin not only evidently improved the therapeutic effects of chemotherapy but also effectively alleviated most of the side effects caused by chemotherapy.
Zhang et al,³⁵ China	10 (761)	GC	TCM + Conventional chemotherapy	Conventional chemotherapy	Formula, TCM injection, Chinese patent medicine	Cochrane Criteria	In conclusion, traditional Chinese medicine combined with chemotherapy can improve the treatment efficiency and survival rate of patients with gastric cancer and reduce the incidence of nausea and vomiting after chemotherapy.
Chen et al,³⁶ China	26 (3098)	GC	TCM + Conventional chemotherapy	Conventional chemotherapy	Formula, Chinese patent medicine	Cochrane Criteria	Traditional Chinese medicine Jianpi Bushen therapy combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of gastric cancer may really enhance the immunity of patients to improve the clinical efficacy and safety.
Li et al,³⁷ China	14 (1109)	GC	TCM + paclitaxel-based chemotherapy	paclitaxel-based chemotherapy	TCM injection, Chinese patent medicine	Cochrane Criteria	The results indicate that paclitaxel + TCM is more effective and safer.
Qiao et al,³⁸ China	20 (1735)	Advanced GC	TCM + Conventional chemotherapy	Conventional chemotherapy	Formula, TCM injections, Chinese patent medicine	Cochrane Criteria	In conclusion, Fuzheng Sanjie method of traditional Chinese medicine adjuvant chemotherapy may be better and safer than simple chemotherapy, and has certain clinical promotion and application value, but the evidence is weak.
Liang et al,³⁹ China	6 (608)	GC	TCM + Conventional chemotherapy	Conventional chemotherapy	Formula, Chinese patent medicine	Cochrane Criteria	Traditional Chinese medicine combined with chemotherapy based on invigorating spleen and supplementing qi is superior to chemotherapy alone in improving the quality of life and inhibiting tumor metastasis, but it cannot significantly improve the survival rate.
Xu et al,⁴⁰ China	15 (1052)	GC undergoing gastrectomy	TCM + Conventional chemotherapy	Conventional chemotherapy	Formula, TCM injection, Chinese patent medicine	Jadad	This study shows that traditional Chinese medicine combined with chemotherapy is better than chemotherapy alone in the side effects and survival time of postoperative patients with gastric cancer, suggesting that traditional Chinese medicine combined with chemotherapy is better than chemotherapy alone, which provides some evidence for clinical treatment.
Chen et al,⁴¹ China	21 (1728)	Advanced GC	TCM + Conventional chemotherapy	Conventional chemotherapy	Formula	Cochrane Criteria	Traditional Chinese medicine compound combined with chemotherapy is more helpful to improve the clinical symptoms and tumor conditions of elderly patients with gastric cancer, improve the quality of life, and reduce the occurrence of gastrointestinal reactions.
Wang et al,⁴² China	18 (1477)	Locally advanced GC undergoing gastrectomy	TCM + Conventional chemotherapy	Conventional chemotherapy	Formula, Chinese patent medicine	Cochrane Criteria	Traditional Chinese medicine combined with postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy is superior to chemotherapy alone in the prevention and treatment of postoperative recurrence and metastasis of LAGC, and has higher safety. Although the above conclusions are of low quality and the supporting evidence is relatively weak, clinicians should be cautious when applying the conclusions of this study in combination with clinical practice.
Wu et al,⁴³ China	23 (1339)	Advanced GC	TCM + FOLFOX chemotherapy	FOLFOX chemotherapy	Formula, Chinese patent medicine	Cochrane Criteria	In conclusion, TCM decoction combined with chemotherapy can benefit patients with advanced gastric cancer from multiple aspects
Zhao et al,⁴⁴ China	19 (1654)	Advanced GC	TCM + Conventional chemotherapy	Conventional chemotherapy	Formula	Cochrane Criteria	The results showed that the traditional Chinese medicine decoction combined with chemotherapy can effectively improve the clinical efficacy, and the safety is good, has the effect of reducing toxicity, increasing the efficacy, and has certain guiding significance for the clinical treatment of advanced gastric cancer.