“…Four articles ( 16 , 20 , 23 , 30 ) were designed as prospective, while eleven ( 17 – 19 , 21 , 22 , 24 – 29 ) were retrospective. Four articles ( 31 – 34 ) enrolled patients with all types of cancer, three ( 18 , 27 , 28 ) enrolled patients with gastric cancer, three ( 19 , 20 , 26 ) enrolled patients with esophageal cancer, one ( 16 ) enrolled patients with gastric/pancreatic/hepatic/colorectal cancer, one ( 30 ) enrolled patients with gastric/pancreatic/biliary/colorectal cancer. The remaining three articles included patients diagnosed with hematologic cancer ( 17 ), pancreatic cancer ( 25 ), or colorectal cancer ( 29 ), respectively.…”