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Purpose. To identify the predicting factors for union and infection after applying the induced membrane technique (IMT) for segmental tibial defects. Methods. A systematic review was carried out following the PRISMA guidelines. All databases were searched for articles published between January 2000 and February 2018 using the keywords "Masquelet technique" and "induced membrane technique." Studies in English reporting more than 5 cases with accessible individual patient data were included. A meta-analysis was performed. Odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals were calculated. Results. After reviewing, 11/243 studies (115 patients) were finally selected. The mean age of the patients was 43.6 years (range: 18-84 years), and the mean length of the tibial defect was 5.5 cm (range: 0-20 cm). The multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the risk factors of postoperative infection after IMT were infected nonunion (p = 0.0160) and defect length ≥ 7 cm (p = 0.0291). Patients with postoperative infection after IMT had a lower union rate (p = 0.0003). Additionally, the use of an antibiotic polymethyl methacrylate cement spacer reduced the need for surgical revision (p = 0.0127). Multiple logistic regression indicated no direct association between the union rate and length of the bone defect. Conclusions. IMT is a reliable and reproducible treatment for segmental tibial defects. However, initial infected nonunion and defect length greater than 7 cm are risk factors for post-IMT infection, and post-IMT infection was statistically related to nonunion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a heterogeneous disease. We explored whether any specific subgroups of patients may gain more survival benefits from sorafenib as the first-line therapy for advanced HCC. Methods: PubMed and the Cochrane library were searched for phase III clinical trials that compared sorafenib with other treatments as first-line therapy for advanced HCC. We retrieved data from the published articles and then calculated synthesized hazard ratios (HRs) of overall mortality for patients of different subgroups, using patients who received other treatments as the reference. Results: Four phase III clinical trials comparing sorafenib with other treatments were included in this study. The HRs were not significantly different between patients from various geographic regions (p = 0.183), patients with different Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance statuses (p = 0.699), or patients with different tumor involvement (p = 0.221). By contrast, the synthesized HR for hepatitis C virus (HCV)+ patients was 0.65 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.53-0.80], which was significantly lower than that for HCV- patients (0.87, 95% CI 0.79-0.96, p = 0.013). Conclusions: As the first-line therapy for advanced HCC, sorafenib might provide more survival benefits to HCV+ patients than to HCV- patients. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]