Endoscopic Biliary Darinage (EBD) versus Percutaneous Transhepatic Biliary Drainage (PTBD) for biliary drainage in patients with Perihilar Cholangiocarcinoma (PCCA): A systematic review and meta-analysis

Biliary drainage for Perihilar Cholangiocarcinoma (PCCA) can be performed either by endoscopic retrograde chol-angiopancreatography or Percutaneous Transhepatic Biliary Drainage (PTBD). To date there is no consensus about which method is preferred. Taking that into account, the aim of this study is to compare Endoscopic Biliary Drainage (EBD) versus percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage in patients with perihilar cholangiocarcinoma through a systematic review and metanalysis. A comprehensive search of multiple electronic databases was per-formed. Evaluated outcomes included technical success, clinical success, post drainage complications (cholangitis, pancreatitis, bleeding, and major complications), crossover, hospital length stay, and seeding metastases. Data extracted from the studies were used to calculate Mean Differences (MD). Seventeen studies were included, with a total of 2284 patients (EBD = 1239, PTBD = 1045). Considering resectable PCCA, the PTBD group demon-strated lower rates of crossover (RD = 0.29; 95% CI 0.07-0.51; p = 0.009 I2 = 90%), post-drainage complica-tions (RD = 0.20; 95% CI 0.06-0.33; p < 0.0001; I2 = 78%), and post-drainage pancreatitis (RD = 0.10; 95% CI 0.05-0.16; p < 0.0001; I2 = 64%). The EBD group presented reduced length of hospital stay (RD =-2.89; 95% CI-3.35 --2,43;p < 0.00001; I2 = 42%). Considering palliative PCCA, the PTBD group demonstrated a higher clini-cal success (RD =-0.19; 95% CI-0.27 --0.11;p < 0.00001; I2 = 0%) and less post-drainage cholangitis (RD = 0.08; 95% CI 0.01-0.15; p = 0.02; I2 = 48%) when compared to the EBD group. There was no statistical difference between the groups regarding: technical success, post-drainage bleeding, major post-drainage compli-cations, and seeding metastases.

Automated summary

Biliary drainage for PCCA can be done through endoscopic retrograde chol-angiopancreatography or Percutaneous Transhepatic Biliary Drainage (PTBD), but the preferred method remains unclear. This study compared Endoscopic Biliary Drainage (EBD) and PTBD in PCCA patients through a systematic review and meta-analysis. Results showed that PTBD had lower crossover rates, post-drainage complications, and post-drainage pancreatitis in resectable PCCA, while EBD had a shorter hospital stay. In palliative PCCA, PTBD had higher clinical success and fewer post-drainage cholangitis cases compared to EBD. There were no statistical differences regarding technical success, post-drainage bleeding, major complications, and seeding metastases.