Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunts in Pediatric Portal Hypertension: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

PURPOSE: To investigate the technical outcome, clinical outcome, and patency of transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) in pediatric portal hypertension (PHT). METHODS: A systematic search of MEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane databases, ClinicalTrials.gov, and WHO ICTRP registries was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. An a priori protocol was registered at the PROSPERO database. Original full-text articles on pediatric patients (sample size of ≥5 patients with upper age limit of 21 years) with PHT who underwent TIPS creation for any indication were included. RESULTS: Seventeen studies with 284 patients (average-weighted age of 10.1 years) were included, with an average-weighted follow-up of 3.6 years. TIPS was technically successful in 93.3% (95% confidence interval [CI], 88.5%-97.1%) of patients, with a major adverse event rate of 3.2% (95% CI, 0.7-6.9) and adjusted hepatic encephalopathy rate of 2.9% (95% CI, 0.6-6.3). The pooled 2-year primary and secondary patency rates were 61.8% (95% CI, 50.0-72.4) and 99.8% (95% CI, 96.2%-100.0%), respectively. Stent type (P = .002) and age (P = .04) were identified as a significant source of heterogeneity for clinical success. In subgroup analysis, the clinical success rate was 85.9% (95% CI, 77.8-91.4) in studies with a majority of covered stents, and 87.6% (95% CI, 74.1-94.6) in studies with a median age of 12 years or older. CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review and meta-analysis demonstrates that a TIPS is a feasible and safe treatment for pediatric PHT. To improve clinical outcome and patency on the long term, the use of covered stents should be encouraged.

Correction to: No evidence of improved efficacy of covered stents over uncovered stents in percutaneous palliation of malignant hilar biliary obstruction: results of a prospective randomized trial.

On request from the Editors, the authors would like to clarify the following: the patient cohorts in the publications "No evidence of improved efficacy of covered stents over uncovered stents in percutaneous palliation of malignant hilar biliary obstruction: results of a prospective randomized trial".

No evidence of improved efficacy of covered stents over uncovered stents in percutaneous palliation of malignant hilar biliary obstruction: results of a prospective randomized trial.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether covered stents show a higher efficacy than uncovered stents in percutaneous treatment of malignant hilar biliary obstruction. METHODS: Patients with obstructive jaundice caused by an unresectable hilar malignancy were included after failed endoscopic intervention in a prospective randomized trial comparing expanded polytetrafluoroethylene and fluorinated ethylene propylene (ePTFE-FEP)-covered nitinol stents with uncovered nitinol stents. Exclusion criteria were as follows: primary tumors existing more than 3 months, a biliodigestive anastomosis, previous stenting, and a Karnofsky score of less than 50. Safety, clinical success, and adjuvant chemotherapy were compared as well as occlusion rate, patency, and survival. RESULTS: A total of 120 patients were included. One patient was post hoc excluded. Fourteen patients who died within 7 days and one patient without patency data were excluded from patency analysis. Serious adverse events (p = 0.4), 30-day mortality (p = 0.5), and clinical success (p = 0.8) were equivalent for both stent groups. Twenty-one out of 61 (34%) patients in the covered and 24/58 (41%) in the uncovered stent groups received adjuvant chemotherapy (p = 0.5). Occlusion rate was 54% (27/50) in the covered stent group and 57% (31/54) in the uncovered stent group (p = 0.8). Median patency was 229 days (95% CI 113-345) for covered stents and 130 days (95% CI 75-185) for uncovered stents (p = 0.1). Median survival in patients with covered stents was 79 days (95% CI 52-106) and with uncovered stents 92 days (95% CI 60-124) (p = 0.3). CONCLUSION: In malignant hilar biliary obstruction, there is no evidence that ePTFE-FEP-covered stents are superior to uncovered stents in terms of safety, clinical success, adjuvant chemotherapy, patency, or survival. KEY POINTS: • Percutaneous palliation of hilar biliary obstruction is feasible with both uncovered and covered stents. • Clinical success in terms of bilirubin decrease and adjuvant chemotherapy is achievable with both stents. • Thirty-day mortality is considerable when stenting is also offered to patients with a low performance status.