SynthesisSurgical endoscopy2022
Local palliative therapies for unresectable malignant biliary obstruction: radiofrequency ablation combined with stent or biliary stent alone? An updated meta-analysis of nineteen trials.
Synthesis in Surgical endoscopy, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Chinese national clinical practice guideline on diagnosis and treatment of biliary tract cancers.Chinese medical journal · 2024Guideline
- Endobiliary Radiofrequency Ablation in Cholangiocarcinoma: Current Evidence and Future Perspectives.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Percutaneous Transhepatic Endobiliary Microwave Ablation Before Stenting for Malignant Obstructive Jaundice: Evidence Synthesis and Preliminary Technical Experience.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Review
- Ablatio-bilica: safety of biliary intraductal radiofrequency ablation in patients with unresectable extrahepatic biliary tract cancer undergoing systemic anti-tumor therapy: a phase II, multi-center, randomized, and controlled study.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Article
- Advances in minimally invasive treatment of malignant obstructive jaundice.World journal of gastrointestinal surgery · 2024Article
- Percutaneous endobiliary radiofrequency ablation and stent placement for unresectable malignant biliary obstruction: a propensity score matching retrospective study.BMC gastroenterology · 2024Article
- Reply to Chandrasekhara and Aggarwal.Endoscopy international open · 2024Article
- Review
- Intraductal radiofrequency ablation plus biliary stent versus stent alone for malignant biliary obstruction: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Endoscopy international open · 2024Review
- Biliary self-expandable metallic stent combined with iodine-125 seeds in the treatment of malignant biliary obstruction (Bismuth type I or II).Surgical endoscopy · 2023Article
- Ablative Therapy in Non-HCC Liver Malignancy.Cancers · 2023Review
- Biliary drainage in malignant biliary obstruction: an umbrella review of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in oncology · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRecently, there has been a burgeoning interest in radiofrequency ablation combined with stent (RFA + Stent) for unresectable malignant biliary obstruction (MBO). This study aimed to perform a meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy and safety of RFA + Stent compared with biliary stent alone.
methodsWe searched PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Web of Science databases from their inception dates to June 20, 2021, for studies that compared RFA + Stent and stent alone for unresectable MBO. The main outcomes were survival, patency, and adverse effects. All meta-analyses were calculated using the random-effects model.
resultsA total of 19 studies involving 1946 patients were included in this study. Compared with stent alone, RFA + Stent was significantly associated with better overall survival (HR 0.55; 95% CI 0.48, 0.63; P < 0.00001), longer mean survival time (SMD 2.20; 95% CI 1.17, 3.22; P < 0.0001), longer mean stent patency time (SMD 1.37; 95% CI 0.47, 2.26; P = 0.003), higher stent patency at 6 months (OR 2.82; 95% CI 1.54, 5.18; P = 0.0008). The two interventions had similar incidence of postoperative abdominal pain (OR 1.29; 95% CI 0.94, 1.78; P = 0.11), mild bleeding (OR 1.28; 95% CI 0.65, 2.54; P = 0.48), cholangitis (OR 1.09; 95% CI 0.76, 1.55; P = 0.65), pancreatitis (OR 1.39; 95% CI 0.82, 2.38; P = 0.22). Furthermore, the serum bilirubin levels and stricture diameter after operations were significantly alleviated than before operations, but the degree of alleviation between the two groups were not significantly different (all P > 0.05).
conclusionAlthough the alleviation of serum bilirubin and stricture diameter did not differ between the two interventions, RFA + Stent can significantly improve the survival and stent patency with comparable procedure-related adverse events than stent alone. Thus, RFA + Stent should be recommended as an attractive alternative to biliary stent alone for patients with unresectable MBO.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.