Korean J Transplant.  2022 Nov;36(Supple 1):S327. 10.4285/ATW2022.F-4683.

Internal biliary stent in adult liver transplantation: a systematic review and meta-analysis

• Kim JS
• Lee TY
• Kim EY
• Kwon YK
• Yoon YC

• KMID: 2535554
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4285/ATW2022.F-4683

Abstract

Background
Biliary complications in liver transplantation (LT) are a significant source of postoperative morbidly and mortality, and there is controversy as to whether the use of an internal stent (IS) can reduce these complications. The aim of our study was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis comparing the use of ISs in LT on the incidence of biliary complications.
Methods
All published English language studies were screened to identify all the clinical comparative studies of ISs in LT. The main outcome assessed was biliary complications (overall biliary complications, biliary leaks, and biliary strictures) in the IS group and the no-IS group after LT. The quality of the studies was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa scale.
Results
Five studies (two randomized controlled trials and three observational studies) with a total of 804 LT patients were included in this meta-analysis. There were no differences between the IS group and no-IS group in overall biliary complications and biliary leaks (odds ratio [OR], 1.030; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.714–1.486; P=0.876 and OR, 0.991; 95% CI, 0.472–2.083;P=0.982, respectively). Also in terms of biliary stricture, no significant difference was observed between the IS group and no-IS group (OR, 0.687; 95% CI, 0.441–1.072; P=0.098).
Conclusions
Our results failed to show significant difference in the incidence of biliary complications according to the use of ISs in LT.