OBJECTIVE:
There is no consensus regarding the most appropriate methods (i.e., the side-by-side versus the stent-in-stent technique) for placing bilateral stents for malignant hilar biliary obstructions. We aimed to perform a quantitative review of the published data regarding the clinical efficacy of the side-by-side and stent-in-stent bilateral drainage techniques for hilar biliary obstructions.
METHODS:
A comprehensive search of several databases was conducted and a fixed-effects or random-effects model was used to pool the data from all of the study end-points.
RESULTS:
Four clinical trials were identified. A comparison of the side-by-side and stent-in-stent groups revealed no significant differences with respect to the rates of successful placement, successful drainage, early complications, late complications and stent occlusions. There were also no significant inter-group differences in stent patency and patient survival and no publication bias was observed.
CONCLUSIONS:
The performance of the side-by-side technique appears to be similar to that of the stent-in-stent technique for bilateral drainage in patients with malignant hilar biliary obstructions.
Malignant Hilar Obstruction; Biliary Stent; Side-by-Side; Stent-in-Stent
