A meta-analysis of prophylactic endoscopic sclerotherapy for esophageal varices

A number of randomized clinical trials of prophylactic sclerotherapy have been carried out with different results. The main objective of this study was to determine if the literature provides evidence that prophylactic sclerotherapy increases the survival rate of patients with esophageal varices.

Meta-analysis was used to evaluate the effect of prophylactic sclerotherapy on the survival of patients with esophageal varices. Only randomized controlled trials that compared prophylactic sclerotherapy to placebo were included.

Fourteen fully published randomized controlled trials, as well as six trials published as abstracts, were identified in the English literature. Pooling of the 14 fully published trials yielded an odds ratio of death in the treatment group compared with the control group of 0.74 (95% confidence interval, 0.60-0.93) in favor of prophylactic sclerotherapy. There was statistically significant heterogeneity that resolved when the trials were pooled in subgroups based on the sclerosant used. Pooling of trials using polidocanol showed a highly significant benefit for prophylactic sclerotherapy in terms of overall mortality, particularly when those trials that selected subjects at high risk of bleeding were pooled, yielding an odds ratio of 0.51 (95% confidence interval, 0.36-0.73). When trials using sodium tetradecyl sulfate were pooled, a detrimental effect for prophylactic sclerotherapy was seen, with an odds ratio of 1.86 (95% confidence interval, 1.15-3.00). Subgroup analysis by Child's class showed no benefit for patients in Child's class A.

These results suggest that prophylactic sclerotherapy with polidocanol is effective, particularly in high-risk patients.