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World J Hepatol. Oct 27, 2026; 18(10): 124749
Published online Oct 27, 2026. doi: 10.4254/wjh.124749
Published online Oct 27, 2026. doi: 10.4254/wjh.124749
Prophylactic antibiotics confer no advantage in elective endoscopic treatment for cirrhotic patients with gastroesophageal variceal bleeding history
Meng Xue, Jing Zhong, Jia-Ning Zhu, Jia Wu, Dan-Dan Zhong, Chun-Peng Zhu, Yan Chen, Ling-Ling Wang, Wei Wei, Department of Gastroenterology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310009, Zhejiang Province, China
Yi-Ping Hong, Department of Gastroenterology, The Affiliated Jinhua Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Jinhua 321000, Zhejiang Province, China
Co-corresponding authors: Yi-Ping Hong and Wei Wei.
Author contributions: Hong YP and Wei W contribute equally to this study as co-corresponding authors; Xue M conducted the study and wrote the paper; Zhong J and Zhu JN contributed to the analysis and figure preparation; Wu J, Zhong DD, Zhu CP, Chen Y and Wang LL collected data and provided clinical advice; and Hong YP and Wei W designed and supervised the study.
AI contribution statement: All the authors report no use of artificial intelligence tools in the preparation of the manuscript.
Supported by the Chronic Disease Management Research Project of National Health Commission Capacity Building and Continuing Education Center, No. GWJJMB202510025159; Medical and Health Science Program of Zhejiang Province, No. 2025HY0403; and Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province, No. LTGD24H030001.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Ethical Review Committee of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine (No. 2026-0728).
Informed consent statement: Patients were not required to give informed due to retrospective study design. The waive of informed consent was approved by the Ethical Review Committee of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest or financial ties to disclose.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement—checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: Technical appendix, statistical code, and dataset available from the corresponding author at wwze@zju.edu.cn.
Corresponding author: Wei Wei, Department of Gastroenterology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, No. 88 Jiefang Road, Hangzhou 310009, Zhejiang Province, China. wwze@zju.edu.cn
Received: June 24, 2026
Revised: July 18, 2026
Accepted: September 8, 2026
Published online: October 27, 2026
Processing time: 119 Days and 17.4 Hours
Revised: July 18, 2026
Accepted: September 8, 2026
Published online: October 27, 2026
Processing time: 119 Days and 17.4 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: The necessity of routine preoperative antibiotic prophylaxis (AP) for elective endoscopic treatment of gastroesophageal varices in cirrhotic patients remains controversial. In this retrospective case-control trial, similar rates of postoperative bacterial infection and 3-month rebleeding were found between patients who received AP and those who did not, indicating that preoperative AP does not confer additional benefit in elective endoscopic treatment for cirrhotic patients with a previous history of gastroesophageal variceal bleeding.