Background: Several quantitative systematic reviews of Kanglaite (KLT), an herb preparation used to treat cancer and malignant pleural effusion, have been published in recent years. However, the clinical evidence reported in these studies has not been pursued further and the methodological quality of these meta-analyses remains unknown. Therefore, an overview was designed to map the evidence landscape based on the published meta-analyses on KLT in cancer treatment. Methods: Two bibliographic databases (PubMed and Embase) were searched from inception to 25 November 2021. Two independent reviewers were involved in study selection, data abstraction, and methodological quality assessment using AMSTAR 2. The principal features of publications and the clinical outcomes of efficacy and safety were synthesized narratively, and results of methodological quality were reported as frequencies and percentages with the corresponding 95% confidence intervals. The evidence map was used to visualize the overall quality. Excel 2016 and Stata 17/SE were used for data analysis. Results: Thirteen meta-analyses published in English were included for in-depth analysis. Among them, the year of publication ranged from 2008 to 2021, and the number of included patients ranged from 488 to 2,964. Regarding the cancer type, seven articles focused on non-small cell lung cancer, two on malignant pleural effusion, and four reviews on digestive system malignancies, such as hepatocellular carcinoma and pancreatic cancer. Almost all included meta-analyses reported that KLT as adjunctive therapy could improve various efficacy outcomes (such as disease response rates, quality of life, immune indicators) and reduce the rate of occurrence of adverse reactions, such as nausea and vomiting, leukopenia, and anemia. In terms of their methodological quality, three meta-analyses were of low quality, whereas 10 studies were critically low in quality. The methodological flaws main involved items 2 ( "predesigned protocol and registration informatio''), 3 ( "rationale of study design for inclusion "), 4 ( "comprehensive search strategy''), 5 ( "literature selection in duplicate''), 7 ( "list of excluded studies with reasons''), 8 ( "adequate information on included studies''), 10 ( "funding support for included primary studies''), and 12 ( "evaluation of the potential impact of risk of bias'') based on the AMSTAR 2 tool. Conclusion: Current evidence reveals that KLT is effective and safe as an adjunctive treatment for non-small cell lung cancer, malignant pleural effusion, and digestive system malignancies (such as hepatocellular carcinoma). However, the results assessed in this overview should be further verified using well-designed and clearly reported clinical trials and meta-analyses of KLT.

Background Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been widely accepted and applied worldwide, and many publications related to Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels (AS, Chinese name is "Danggui") have been published. However, to date, there has not been a scientometric study to systematically analyze the intellectual landscape and emerging research trends regarding AS. Therefore, we performed a scientometric study to address this gap. Methods Publications related to AS published from 2009 to 2018 were identified and selected from the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection on May 30, 2019 using relevant keywords. HistCite, CiteSpace, and Excel 2016 software tools were used to conduct this scientometric study. Results Seven hundred and sixty-seven articles (including 717 primary articles and 60 review articles) and their cited references were included and analyzed. The majority of publications (N = 565, 73.7%) were published in mainland China, with Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine contributing the most publications (N = 42, 5.5%). The first core journal was Journal of Ethnopharmacology (N = 58, 7.6%; impact factor = 3.414). The identification and assessment of active components (like ferulic acid) of AS and their pharmacological actions (such as immunomodulatory effects) are the current research foci for AS research. Conclusion The present scientometric study provides an overview of the development of AS research over the previous decade using quantitative and qualitative methods, and this overview can provide references for researchers focusing on AS.