The methods of preoperative biliary drainage for resectable hilar cholangiocarcinoma patients: A protocol for systematic review and meta analysis

OBJECTIVES: To compare the clinical outcomes of endoscopic biliary drainage (EBD) with those of percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD) in patients with resectable hilar cholangiocarcinoma (HCCA) and evaluate the effect of EBD and PTBD on tumor prognosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library databases were searched for articles about the comparison between PTBD and EBD. Data were analyzed by Revman 5.3. RESULTS: PTBD showed a lower risk of drainage-related complications than EBD (OR, 2.73; 95%CI, 1.52–4.91; P < .05). PTBD was also associated with lower risk of pancreatitis (OR, 8.47; 95%CI, 2.28–31.45; P < .05). The differences in preoperative cholangitis, R0 resection, blood loss and recurrence showed no statistically significance between EBD and PTBD (all P > .05). Several literatures have reported the tumor implantation metastasis after PTBD. Since no well-designed prospective randomized controlled studies have explored in this depth, this article is unable to draw conclusions on this aspect. CONCLUSION: PTBD is a reasonable choice for PBD, and EBD should only be used as preoperative drainage for HCCA by more experienced physicians. There is a greater need to design prospective randomized controlled studies to obtain high-level evidence-based medicinal proof. It is worth noting that, whether EBD or PTBD, accurate selective biliary drainage should be the trend.