Omentoplasty Decreases Leak Rate After Esophagectomy: a Meta-analysis

To compare the efficacy of omentoplasty with non-omentoplasty in the prevention of postoperative anastomotic leakage, and to investigate the safety of omentoplasty.

Literature searches were performed of the Medline, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library databases. Studies that compared the efficacy of omentoplasty and non-omentoplasty after esophagectomy were selected. A meta-analysis was performed on anastomotic leakage, anastomotic stenosis, hospital mortality, and length of hospital stay. Results were reported as odds ratio (OR), weighted mean difference (WMD), or relative risk (RR), with 95% confidence intervals.

Six studies involving a total of 1608 patients met inclusion criteria. Compared with the non-omentoplasty group, the incidence of anastomotic leakage in the omentoplasty group (OR, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.23-0.60; P < 0.0001) was significantly reduced and the length of hospital stay (WMD, 2.13; 95% CI, 3.57-0.69; P = 0.004) was significantly shortened. However, there was no significant difference in the incidence of anastomotic strictures (OR, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.37-1.80; P = 0.61) or in-hospital mortality (OR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.25-1.51; P = 0.29).

Omentoplasty after esophagectomy is a safe and effective method to prevent anastomotic leakage.