Objective To evaluate the short-term effectiveness and safety of laparoscopic versus conventional open left hepatectomy. Methods Databases including CENTRAL (Issue 1, 2012), MEDLINE/PubMed (1978 to 2012), EMbase (1966 to 2012), CBM (1978 to 2012), CNKI (1979 to 2012) and the Chinese Medical Association Figures Journal Systems (1990 to 2012) were searched to collect clinical trials on laparoscopic versus conventional open left hepatectomy. Relevant proceedings and references of the included studies were also retrieved manually. According to the inclusion criteria, two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed quality. Then meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan5.0 software. Results No randomized controlled trials were collected, and a total of 5 clinical concurrent controlled trials involving 319 patients were included finally. The results of meta-analysis showed that, compared with the conventional open group, the laparoscopic group was longer in the operation time (WMD=40.89, 95%CI 29.39 to 55.38, Plt;0.000 01), and was lower in the intraoperative blood loss (WMD=−107.84, 95%CI −208.96 to −6.73, Plt;0.04); but there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of hospital stays (WMD=−3.78, 95%CI −9.60 to 2.04, P=0.20) or postoperative complications (WMD=0.69, 95%CI 0.37 to 1.29, P=0.25). Conclusion As a minimally invasive technique, laparoscopic left hepatectomy has advantages of small abdominal incision and less intraoperative blood loss, and it is helpful to improve the quality of life for patients. Due to the limitation of quantity and quality of the included studies, it is hard to estimate the impact of bias on the reliability of this conclusion. We advise to perform more high quality, large scale and multicenter studies with adequate follow-up in the future.
Objective To systematically review the clinical effectiveness and safety of programmable valves (PV) vs. standard valves (SV) for hydrocephalus. Methods Literature search was conducted in PubMed, The Cochrane Library, EMbase, CNKI, CBM, VIP and WanFang Data to collect both randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and non-randomized concurrent controlled trials on hydrocephalus treated by PV and SV published from January 1992 to January 2012. According to the inclusion criteria, two reviewers independently screened articles, extracted data, and evaluated and cross-checked the quality of the included studies. Then meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.0 software. Results A total of 11 non-randomized concurrent controlled trials involving 1,485 participants were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that, compared with SV, PV was superior in overall effective rate (RR=1.14, 95%CI 1.03 to 1.27, P=0.01), 2-year survival rate (RR=1.25, 95%CI 1.04 to 1.51, P=0.02), secondary surgery rate (RR=0.53, 95%CI 0.39 to 0.73, Plt;0.001), overall complications rate (RR=0.62, 95%CI 0.51 to 0.76, Plt;0.001), and over-drainage/ under-drainage rates (RR=0.42, 95%CI 0.21 to 0.83, P=0.01). But there were no significant differences in 1-year survival rate (RR=1.04, 95%CI 0.91 to 1.19, P=0.55), postoperative infection rate (RR=1.08, 95%CI 0.73 to 1.60, P=0.71) and valve related complication rate (RR=0.80, 95%CI 0.56 to 1.21, P=0.20) between the two groups. Conclusion Current evidence suggests that PV is superior to SV in increasing the effective rate, decreasing complications, and prolonging the long-term survival rate. Because of the limitation of quantity and quality of the included studies, more high quality, multicenter and double-blind RCTs are needed to prove whether PV can be clinically recommended as a preferred drainage surgery or not.
Objective To systematically review the effectiveness and safety of different laparoscopic surgeries for ovarian endometrioma (OE). Methods Such databases as The Cochrane Library (Issue 3, 2011), MEDLINE (1966 to November 2011), EMbase (1980 to November 2011), CNKI (1980 to November 2011), CBM (1980 to November 2011) and WanFang Data (1978 to November 2011) were searched on computer, and the relevant references of the included literature were also retrieved manually to collect the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about laparoscopic cystectomy vs. laparoscopic coagulation for OE. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed quality. Then RevMan 5.1 software was used for meta-analysis. Results A total of 5 RCTs were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that, laparoscopic cystectomy for OE could reduce the reocurrence rates of dysmenorrhoea (RR=0.29, 95%CI 0.15 to 0.55, P=0.000 2), dyspareunia (RR=0.27, 95% CI 0.09 to 0.77, P=0.01) and non-menstrual pelvic pain (RR=0.19, 95% CI 0.05 to 0.76, P=0.02), decrease 1-year (RR=0.33, 95%CI 0.15 to 0.74, P=0.007) and 2-year (RR=0.49, 95%CI 0.26 to 0.95, P=0.03) postoperative reoccurence of OE, and lower the risk of short-term secondary operation (RR=0.25, 95%CI 0.07 to 0.85, P=0.03). However, it didn’t increase the 12-month (RR=2.82, 95%CI 1.44 to 5.50, P=0.002) and 24-month (RR=2.62, 95%CI 1.47 to 4.68, P=0.001) postoperative spontaneous pregnancy rates (SPR). In addition, although laparoscopic coagulation was superior to laparoscopic cystectomy in the 6-month postoperative ovarian reserve function (ORF), there was no significant difference in the 5-year postoperative ORF between the two groups (WMD=0.27, 95%CI −0.18 to 0.73, P=0.24). Conclusion Laparoscopic cystectomy for OE can reduce the reoccurence of dysmenorrhoea, dyspareunia, non-menstrual pelvic pain and endometriosis, decrease the risk of short-term secondary operation, and increase the postoperative SPR in women who had been diagnosed as infertility. Because of the quantity limitation of present clinical trials, this conclusion requires to be further proved by performing more high quality RCTs.
Objective To assess the safety and effectiveness of laparoscopic hysterectomy (LH) for women with benign gynecological diseases. Methods Such databases as CENTRAL (The Cochrane Library, Issue 5, 2012), MEDLINE, EMbase, CNKI, WanFang Data, VIP and CBM were searched from the date of their establishment to May 2012, meanwhile the relevant gray literature was also retrieved to identify the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about LH versus abdominal hysterectomy (AH) for benign gynecological diseases. The literature was screened according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria by two reviewers independently, and the methodology quality was evaluated after extracting the data, then RevMan 5.1 software was used for meta-analysis. Results A total of 22 RCTs involving 3 304 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that, compared with AH, LH was shorter in the time of both hospital stay (MD=–2.31, 95%CI –3.03 to –1.60, Plt;0.000 01) and postoperative recovery (MD=−13.86, 95%CI −17.70 to −10.03, Plt;0.000 01), and lower in the incidences of both postoperative fever and other nonspecific infections (OR=0.72, 95%CI 0.54 to 0.95, P=0.02), but it was higher in the incidence rate of intraoperative urinary systematic injuries (OR=2.41, 95%CI 1.21 to 4.82, P=0.012), and longer in the operation time (MD=20.27, 95%CI 3.95 to 36.59, P=0.03). There were no significant differences between the two groups in the incidence of complications such as intraoperative intestinal injuries, vessel injuries, postoperative fistulizaion, postoperative urethral dysfunction, postoperative vaginal infection, etc. (Pgt;0.05). Conclusion This systematic review shows when treating benign gynecological diseases, LH is superior to AH in shortening the time of hospital stay and postoperative recovery, and in decreasing the incidence of operative fever and other nonspecific infections, but it results in a higher incidence of intraoperative urinary systematic injuries and longer operative time. Because there is no result regarding to the postoperative long-term life quality, so it expects to be further proved by more high quality RCTs.
Objective To systematically evaluate the effectiveness and cost of laparoscopic myomectomy (LM) vs. traditional abdominal myomectomy (TAM) in treating Chinese patients with hysteromyoma. Methods Such databases as The Cochrane Library (Issue 4, 2012), PubMed, EMbase, CNKI, CBM and WanFang Data were searched from their inception to September, 2012 to collect the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about LM vs. TAM in treating Chinese patients with hysteromyoma, and the references of the included studies were also retrieved. Two reviewers independently screened the literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted the data and assessed the methodological quality. Then meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.2 software. Results A total of 8 RCTs involving 1 000 Chinese patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that, LM was superior to TAM in postoperative exhaust time (WMD= ?15.21, 95%CI ?20.19 to ?10.24, Plt;0.000 01) and postoperative hospital stay (WMD= ?3.07, 95%CI ?4.25 to ?1.90, Plt;0.000 01), with significant differences. But it was inferior to TAM in operation time (WMD=28.33, 95%CI 18.07 to 38.59, Plt;0.000 01) and hospital costs (WMD=2 028.87, 95%CI 1 190.75 to 2 866.98, Plt;0.000 01), with a significant difference. There was no significant difference in intraoperative bleeding amount between the two groups (WMD= ?2.78, 95%CI ?41.56 to 36.00, P=0.89). Conclusion This study shows LM is superior to TAM in fastening postoperative recovery and shortening hospital stay, but it is longer in operation time and higher in cost. The intraoperative bleeding amount is similar in the two groups. Due to low methodological quality and small sample size of the included studies, this conclusion has to be further proved by more high-quality RCTs.
Objective To systematically evaluate the effectiveness and safety of laparoscopic hepatectomy (LH) versus open hepatectomy (OH) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods Databases including PubMed, EMbase, MEDLINE, SCI, CNKI, CBM, WanFang Data and The Cochrane Library (Issue 3, 2012) were searched to collect the randomized controlled trails (RCTs) and non-RCTs about LH versus OH for HCC. The retrieval time was from inception to August 2012. The studies were screened according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, the data were extracted and the quality was evaluated by 2 reviewers independently. Then the meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.1 software. Results A total of 13 non-RCTs involving 701 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that: Compared with OH, LH had lesser amount of intraoperative bleeding (MD=?144.09, 95%CI ?194.25 to ?93.94, Plt;0.000 01), shorter hospital stay (MD=?5.48, 95%CI ?7.10 to ?3.85, Plt;0.000 01), and lower postoperative complications (OR=0.43, 95%CI 0.27 to 0.66, P=0.000 1). But there were no differences between the 2 groups in operation time (MD=?0.64, 95%CI ?22.95 to 21.68, P=0.96), perioperative death rate, 3-5 year survival rate, and tumor free survival rate. Conclusion LH is superior to OH in treating HCC for it is associated with smaller wound, lesser operative blood loss, shorter hospital stay, and lower postoperative complications. And it is similar as OH in operation time, perioperative death rate and 3-5 year survival rate. So LH is safe and feasible for treating HCC when its indications are strictly controlled. However, for the quantity and quality limitation of the included studies, this conclusion still requires to be further proved by performing large scale and high quality RCTs. It suggests that doctors should choose a best therapy for HCC patients according to an integrative disease assessment.
Objective To assess the clinical effectiveness and safety of laparoscopy versus laparotomy for endometrial cancer. Methods The databases such as The Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMbase, Ovid, CNKI, WanFang Data, and VIP were searched to collect the randomized control trials (RCTs) about the clinical effectiveness and safety of laparoscopy and laparotomy for endometrial cancer. The retrieval time was from January 1998 to September 2012. Two reviewers independently screened the literature according to the inclusive and exclusive criteria, extracted the data, and assessed the methodological quality of included studies. Then the meta-analysis was performed by using RevMan 5.0 software. Results A total of 10 RCTs involving 6 993 patients were included. Meta-analysis showed that, compared with laparotomy, laparoscopy had lesser amount of intraoperative bleeding, lower decrease of hemoglobin before and 1-day after operation, shorter time of both waiting for postoperative gas and hospital stay, lower incidence of postoperative complications, longer operation time, and higher incidence of intraoperative complications. Additionally, there were no differences between the 2 groups in the number of pelvic and para-aortic lymph nodes removed during operation, as well as the postoperative recurrence and mortality rates in 3-5 year follow-up. Conclusion Compared with laparotomy, laparoscopy shows lesser amount of intraoperative bleeding, lower decrease of hemoglobin before and 1-day after operation, shorter time of both waiting for postoperative gas and hospital stay, lower incidence of postoperative complications. But laparotomy shows lower incidences of intraoperative complications, and shorter operation time. Both operations are similar in the number of pelvic and para-aortic lymph nodes removed during operation, as well as the postoperative recurrence and mortality rates in 3-5 year follow-up. For quantity limitation and low methodological quality of included studies, this conclusion still needs to be further proved by performing more high-quality and large scale RCTs.
Objective To systematically review the effectiveness and safety of hyperthermia (HT) plus intraperitoneal hyperthermic perfusion chemotherapy (IHPC) versus IHPC alone for malignant ascites. Methods Such databases as PubMed, The Cochrane Library, EMbase, VIP, WanFang, CNKI and CBM were electronically and comprehensively searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on HT plus IHPC vs. IHPC alone for malignant ascites from inception to March 2013. Two reviewers independently screened studies according to inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted data and assessed quality of the included studies. References of the included studies were also retrieved. Then, meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.1 software. Results A total of 16 RCTs involving 984 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that, compared with the IHPC alone group, the HT plus IHPC group had a higher effective rate of controlling ascites (OR=3.40, 95%CI 2.58 to 4.48, Plt;0.000 01), better improvement in quality of life (OR=2.77, 95%CI 1.90 to 4.05, Plt;0.000 01), with significant differences. The two groups were alike in 1-year survival with no significant difference (OR=1.80, 95%CI 0.61 to 5.31, P=0.28). As for safety, there was no significant difference between the two groups in the incidences of nausea and vomiting, abdominal distension and pain, myelosuppression, diarrhea, and constipation. Conclusion The results of this systematic review show that, compared with IHPC alone, HT plus IHPC improves the effective rate as well as the quality of life of patients with malignant ascites, and it does not increase the incidences of adverse reactions. Due to the limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high quality RCTs with larger sample size are needed to verify the above conclusion.
Objective To systematically review the effectiveness and safety of single-incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy (SILC) versus conventional multiport laparoscopic cholecystectomy (CMLC). Methods We electronically searched PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library (Issue 1, 2013), CBM, CNKI, VIP and WanFang Data for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on SILC versus CMLC from inception to January 1st, 2013. According to the Cochrane methods, the reviewers screened literature, extracted data, and assessed the methodological quality. Then, meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.2 software. Results Finally, 17 RCTs involving 1 233 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that, compared with CMLC, SILC was lower in 24 h postoperative pain score (visual analogue scale, VAS) (SMD= –0.40, 95%CI –0.76 to –0.04, P=0.03), higher in cosmetic results score (SMD=1.56, 95%CI 0.70 to 2.43, P=0.000 4), and longer in operative time (MD=13.11, 95%CI 7.06 to 19.16, Plt;0.000 1). However, no significant difference was found in 6 h postoperative pain scores (VAS), postoperative complications, port-site hernia and hospital stay between the two groups. Conclusion SILC is a safe and effective technique for the treatment of uncomplicated benign gallbladder diseases, and it has certain advantages compared with CMLC, which is recommended in clinical application.
Objective To evaluate the clinical effectiveness of endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) and ventriculal peritoneum shunt (VPS) for hydrocephalus. Methods A fully recursive literature search was conducted in PubMed (1996 to June, 2011), EMBASE (1996 to June, 2011), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (Issue 3, 2011), CBM (1996 to June, 2011), CNKI and Wanfang Database (1996 to June, 2011) in any language. The randomized or non-randomized controlled trials of hydrocephalus treated by endoscopic third ventriculostomy and ventriculal peritoneum shunt were considered for inclusion. The analyzed outcome variables were overall complications and the survival rate of all time points. Data related to clinical outcomes were extracted by two reviewers independently. Statistical analyses were carried out by using RevMan 5.0 software. Results Nine published reports of eligible studies involving 1 187 participants met the inclusion criteria. Compared with VPS, ETV had no significant differences in short-term (1 or 2 years) survival rate (RR=1.02, 95%CI 0.90 to 1.16, P=0.74; RR=1.14, 95%CI 1.00 to 1.30, P=0.06), but there were significant differences between the two groups in overall complication rate (RR=0.70, 95%CI 0.57 to 0.89, P=0.001), postoperative 3-year survival rate (RR=1.23, 95%CI 1.07 to 1.41, P=0.004), and postoperative 5-year survival rate (RR=1.14, 95%CI 1.29 to 1.66, P=0.05). So the outcomes indicated ETV was superior in controlling the overall complication rate and prolonging the long-term survival rate. Conclusion Current evidence suggests that endoscopic third ventriculostomy is superior to ventriculal peritoneum shunt in reducing the overall complications and prolonging the long-term survival rate, but there is no significant difference in short-term survival rate between the two methods. The effectiveness of the two operational methods for hydrocephalus caused by all specific reasons still has to be further proved by more high-quality, multi-centered and double-blind RCTs.