Surgical treatment (shunts compared with devascularisation) for preventing variceal rebleeding due to schistosomiasis of the liver and spleen

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Surgical treatment (shunts compared with devascularisation) for preventing variceal rebleeding due to schistosomiasis of the liver and spleen

New
Authors: 
Ede CJ, Nikolova D, Brand M

Background

Schistosomiasis (‘bilharzia’ or ‘snail fever’) is a water-borne disease caused by parasites known as blood flukes. Blood flukes are released by fresh water snails and penetrate the skin of humans (swimmers and others in close contact with water). Here, they migrate into the venous circulation, settling in various typical sites such as the gut, the urinary bladder, and the liver, where they cause local inflammation. In the liver, they result in Symmer’s pipe-stem periportal fibrosis, with the consequent complication of increased portal blood pressure. Infected people may develop varices (enlarged blood vessels within the wall of the oesophagus and stomach). Bleeding from these varices is not uncommon and can result in death. Although several methods exist to stop the initial bleeding, it may recur with the same risk of death as during the initial bleed without further treatment.

The first-line treatment to prevent variceal rebleeding is with medications (non-selective beta-blockers to lower the portal blood pressure) combined with endoscopic method (use of a long tube fitted with a camera to locate and close the varices with elastic bands). This involves repeated treatment sessions, hence treatment success is heavily dependent on patient compliance, which in low income countries may be adversely affected by eco-social factors such as transport costs.

Surgery is an alternative treatment option. There are two broad surgical categories to decrease the risk of repeat bleeding from varices: these are either shunts (a channel that diverts all or part of the bloodstream from the liver to the general blood circulation) or devascularisation surgery (disconnection of the enlarged blood vessels in the walls of the oesophagus and stomach). Either treatment may be performed as a once-off procedure to prevent variceal rebleeding. However, it is not clear which of these treatments offers the best result.

We aimed to determine the benefits and harms of shunts compared with devascularisation in preventing variceal rebleeding due to schistosomiasis of the liver and spleen.

Study characteristics

We found two randomised clinical trials (types of studies in which participants are assigned to treatment group using a random method) involving a total of 154 adult participants who received either a non-selective shunt surgery, a selective shunt surgery, or devascularisation surgery. However, the design of both trials was of insufficient quality, as the numbers of trial participants were small, and some participant information was lacking. One of the trials was funded by an institutional grant, and how funding was obtained for the other trial was not clear. We assessed both trials as at high risk of bias.

Key results

There were no significant differences in the number of participants who had repeat bleeding, adverse effects of treatment, or deaths between the shunt surgery and the devascularisation group, but participants who had devascularisation were less likely to suffer encephalopathy (disease of the brain due to damage from toxins produced by the liver). Neither of the trials addressed quality of life after treatment.

Conclusions

Given the very low certainty of the evidence due to the way the clinical trials were performed, limited trial data and trial participants, we were unable to determine whether one treatment is better than the other. We suggest that future trials include a sufficient number of randomised participants to be able to obtain meaningful results on patient-relevant outcomes and allow objective comparison of these two surgery types.

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