Effect of combined ursodeoxycholic acid and glucocorticoid on the outcome of Kasai procedure: A systematic review and meta-analysis

• Published in: Medicine (Baltimore) Vol. 97; no. 35; p. e12005
• Main Authors: Qiu, Jian-Li, Shao, Ming-Yi, Xie, Wen-Fang, Li, Yue, Yang, Hai-Die, Niu, Min-Min, Xu, Hua
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States The Authors. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved 01.08.2018; Wolters Kluwer Health
• Subjects: Biliary Atresia - blood; Biliary Atresia - surgery; Bilirubin - blood; Cholagogues and Choleretics - administration & dosage; Drug Therapy, Combination; Female; Glucocorticoids - administration & dosage; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Jaundice - etiology; Jaundice - prevention & control; Male; Portoenterostomy, Hepatic - adverse effects; Portoenterostomy, Hepatic - methods; Postoperative Complications - etiology; Postoperative Complications - prevention & control; Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis; Treatment Outcome; Ursodeoxycholic Acid - administration & dosage
• DOI: 10.1097/MD.0000000000012005
• ISSN: 0025-7974; 1536-5964

Multiple studies have investigated the effect of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) or glucocorticoid (GC) on the outcome of the hepatoportoenterostomy (Kasai procedure) in patients with biliary atresia (BA). However, the combined effect of these drugs (UDCA + GC) is little understood. This meta-analysis specifically evaluated the effect of UDCA + GC after the Kasai procedure in patients with BA. A comprehensive literature search was conducted for all relevant articles in the electronic databases Medline, PubMed, Cochrane, Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Biomedical Literature Database on Disc (CBM-disc), and Vendor Information Pages (VIP). Eight studies with BA patients were finally included in our meta-analysis. The 8 identified studies consisted of 3 case-control, 3 cohort, and 2 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with overall 530 subjects (144, 152, and 234 subjects, respectively). Among them, 312 patients were treated with UDCA + GC, while 218 received placebo or other intervention. The meta-analysis indicated that groups that received UDCA + GC had significantly lower rates of postoperative jaundice relative to the controls (pooled, odds ratio [OR] = 2.41; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.44-4.04; Z = 3.34; P = .0008), while rates of cholangitis were similar (pooled, OR = 0.87; 95% CI 0.43-1.74; Z = 0.40; P = .69). Combined UDCA and GC intervention was superior to that of the control in accelerating the clearance of serum bilirubin in patients with BA after the Kasai procedure. However, this conclusion requires further confirmation using RCTs of high methodological quality.