Published online Aug 16, 2021. doi: 10.4253/wjge.v13.i8.336
Peer-review started: February 12, 2021
First decision: May 5, 2021
Revised: June 11, 2021
Accepted: July 13, 2021
Article in press: July 13, 2021
Published online: August 16, 2021
Processing time: 180 Days and 14.5 Hours
While pancreatic endotherapy is frequently performed for the treatment of chronic pancreatitis-related complications, most studies examining endotherapy have focused on technical success outcomes, such as stricture resolution or stone clearance. Studies reporting patient-centered outcomes such as quality of life are lacking, however, making it difficult to determine how endotherapy affects these patients.
The motivation for this systematic review stems from the primary criticism of pancreatic endotherapy on whether endotherapy improves the lives of patients with chronic pancreatitis. While it is well-known that endotherapy can treat the structural complications of chronic pancreatitis, the effect of endotherapy on patient-centered outcomes is poorly studied.
The primary objective of this systematic review was to detail the literature regarding how pancreatic endotherapy affects quality of life in chronic pancreatiits patients.
A systematic review was performed to identify studies reporting on various pancreatic endotherapy modalities and quality of life.
The search yielded 13 studies for review out of 10242 articles. All of the modalities examined found an improvement in quality of life.
Pancreatic endotherapy does appear to improve quality of life, but the assessment of quality of life is very heterogeneous and not disease-specific. Furthermore, there is a lack of evidence regarding many modalities such as transmural fluid drainage, pancreatoscopy-guided therapy and celiac plexus block.
Further studies are clearly needed to elucidate the patient experience with receiving pancreatic endotherapy and future trials will benefit from having patient-centered outcomes as the primary outcome.