Published online Sep 14, 2019. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v25.i34.5210
Peer-review started: March 25, 2019
First decision: April 11, 2019
Revised: July 14, 2019
Accepted: August 7, 2019
Article in press: August 7, 2019
Published online: September 14, 2019
Processing time: 174 Days and 4.2 Hours
Inoperable malignant biliary strictures comes with a very high mortality rate. Self expanding metal stents (SEMS) not only offers symptomatic relief but also gives an opportunity for these patients to receive chemotherapy once bilirubin starts to trend down. Unilateral biliary SEMS have long been thought to be adequate and probably better than bilateral SEMS as it comes with lower complication rates. However, with newer endoscopic techniques and most recent prospective trials, the efficacy of bilateral SEMS has shown to be better than unilateral SEMS and with similar complication rates. This meta-analysis highlights the growing body of evidence in support of bilateral stenting versus unilateral stenting.
Over the past few years, newer randomized control trials (RCTs have been published showing the overall advantage of bilateral biliary stenting over unilateral stenting in a subset of patients with inoperable hilar malignant strictures. No meta-analysis was done on this topic with newer study data points.
We aimed to conduct a meta-analysis to compare the role of bilateral stenting vs unilateral stenting in inoperable malignant hilar strictures.
A detailed literature search was conducted to find all the relevant articles. Two reviewers independently analyzed all the selected studies. All discrepancies were discussed independently with the third reviewer and consensus was achieved. We used Pooled odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated for each outcome.
A total of 782 patients form nine studies were included for analysis. Bilateral stenting had significantly lower re-intervention rate compared with unilateral drainage (OR = 0.59, 95%CI: 0.40-0.87, P = 0.009). There was no difference in the technical success rate (OR = 0.7, CI: 0.42-1.17, P = 0.17), early complication rate (OR = 1.56, CI: 0.31-7.75, P = 0.59), late complication rate (OR = 0.91, CI: 0.58-1.41, P = 0.56) and stent malfunction (OR = 0.69, CI: 0.42-1.12, P = 0.14) between bilateral and unilateral stenting for malignant hilar biliary strictures.
Older studies that have shown the ease of putting unilateral stenting with fewer complications over bilateral stenting in inoperable malignant hilar strictures. However, with new RCTs showing the higher success of bilateral biliary stenting with lower re-intervention rates, bilateral stenting could offer an overall advantage over unilateral stenting. Our study highlights the overall advantage of bilateral stenting over unilateral stenting.
Biliary stenting is very important modality in the overall management of inoperable malignant hilar strictures. Bilateral stenting offers an advantage over unilateral stenting, however more RCT is required to further support this conclusion.