Bronchial artery embolization for hemoptysis: A systematic review and meta-analysis

To assess the safety and efficacy of bronchial artery embolization (BAE) for hemoptysis.

Databases with articles published in English, including Pubmed, Embase, Web of science and Chochrane library, were comprehensively searched to get accurate, up-to-date and sufficient literature about BAE for hemoptysis until March 2020. The technical success rates, immediate control rates, recurrence rates, mortality rates, and total complication rates (minor and major complication rates) extracted from the articles were pooled to estimate and assess the efficacy and safety of BAE using random-effect and fixed-effect models.

21 articles published between 2008 and 2019, which include a total of 2511 patients, were studied to evaluate the safety and efficacy of BAE. The technical success and immediate control rates are 99.9% (95%CI: 99%-100%) and 99.5% (95%CI: 97.8%-99.2%), respectively. This study showed hemoptysis recurrence in 23.7% (95%CI: 18.5%-28.9%) with a mortality rate of 2% (95%CI: 0-3%). Additionally, the assessment of complications revealed a total complication rate of 13.4% (95% CI: 7.6-19.2%), in which 0.2% (95% CI: 0.2-0.4%) were major complications and 10% (95% CI: 4.7-9.6%) were minor complications.

BAE is an effective, safe, and feasible procedure with a low complication rate for hemoptysis patients. However, recurrence of hemoptysis is still at high risk after BAE due to different underlying diseases.