Symptom relief and not cyst reduction determines treatment success in aspiration sclerotherapy of hepatic cysts

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether quantitative assessment of symptom reduction is a better outcome parameter than cyst volume reduction for treatment success in patients treated by aspiration sclerotherapy. METHODS: We included patients with symptomatic, large (> 5 cm), hepatic cysts from a randomized controlled trial (NCT02048319). At baseline and 6 months after treatment, symptoms were assessed with the polycystic liver disease questionnaire (PLD-Q) and we measured cyst volume using ultrasonography. Patient-reported change in health was assessed on a 5-point Likert scale (much worse to much better) after 6 months. We tested whether PLD-Q scores and cyst volumes changed after aspiration sclerotherapy (responsiveness). Changes in PLD-Q scores and cyst volume were compared with change in health as a measure of treatment success (discriminative ability). As secondary analysis, we compared baseline characteristics between responders (improved) and non-responders (not improved). RESULTS: We included 32 patients. Six months after treatment, 23 patients (72%) improved. Both PLD-Q score and cyst volume significantly decreased (median 38 to 18 points, p < 0.001, and 479 to 68 mL, p < 0.001). Larger improvement in PLD-Q score was associated with a positive change in health (p = 0.001), while larger proportional reduction in cyst volume was not significantly associated with health improvement after treatment (p = 0.136). Responders had larger baseline cyst volumes compared to non-responders (median 624 mL [IQR 343–1023] vs. 322 mL [IQR 157–423] p = 0.008). CONCLUSION: Cyst diameter reduction does not reflect treatment success in aspiration sclerotherapy from patients’ perspective, while symptoms measured with the PLD-Q can be used as a reliable outcome measure. KEY POINTS: • Cyst diameter reduction poorly reflects treatment success in aspiration sclerotherapy. • Symptoms measured by the polycystic liver disease questionnaire (PLD-Q) is a better outcome measure than cyst volume reduction for treatment success after aspiration sclerotherapy. • Particularly patients with larger cysts (≥ 529 mL) benefit from aspiration sclerotherapy. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00330-018-5851-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.