Table 1. Main characteristics and results of the eligible studies.
| First author-year | Patients source | Study design | N pts | Method | Cut-off | Positive (%) | HR estimation | HR (95% CI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chow-1997 | China | R | 36 | IHC | Any staining | 50 | Survival curves | OS 1.65 (0.41-6.55) |
| Jeng-2004 | China | P | 50 | RT-PCR | NA | 50 | Survival curves | DFS 2.83 (1.06-7.54) |
| OS 4.57 (1.04-20.11) | ||||||||
| Deli-2005 | China | P | 105 | IHC | ≥60% stained | 68.6 | Survival curves | OS 1.89 (0.92-3.86) |
| Sheen-2005 | China | P | 60 | RT-PCR | ≥0.5 | 81.7 | HR | DFS 2.29 (0.65-8.12) |
| OS 2.38 (0.61-9.22) | ||||||||
| Guo-2006 | China | P | 90 | IHC | ≥10% staining | 76.7 | HR | DFS 1.83 (1.18-2.83) |
| Wada-2006 | Japan | R | 60 | IHC | Strong staining | 20 | Survival curves | DFS 1.67 (0.66-4.23) |
| Zhang-2006 | China | R | 82 | IHC | ≥10% staining | NA | HR | DFS 0.34 (0.10-1.16) |
| Ho-2007 | China | P | 71 | IHC | Median | 49.3 | Survival curves | DFS 1.60 (0.56-4.55) |
| Tseng-2008 | China | R | 113 | IHC | NA | 17.7 | HR | OS 1.95 (1.19-3.21) |
| Dai-2009 | China | R | 110 | RT-PCR | NA | NA | HR | DFS 1.91 (1.10-3.13) |
| OS 1.37 (0.76-2.48) | ||||||||
| Hu-2009 | China | P | 162 | IHC | NA | 59.9 | HR | DFS 1.62 (1.04-2.53) |
| OS 1.51 (0.99-2.30) | ||||||||
| Yang-2010 | China | R | 314 | IHC | NA | NA | HR | DFS 0.99 (0.69-1.42) |
| OS 1.27 (0.94-1.71) | ||||||||
| Chen-2011 | China | R | 63 | IHC | H-score ≥25 | 47.6 | HR | DFS 1.16 (0.49-2.75) |
| OS 1.49 (0.55- 4.10) | ||||||||
| Minata-2013 | Japan | R | 133 | IHC | NA | NA | HR | DFS 3.32 (1.93-5.41) |
Abbreviations: VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor; P, prospective; R, retrospective; IHC, immunohistochemistry; RT-PCR, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction; NA, not applicable; HR, hazard ratio