Metal versus plastic stents for EUS-guided walled-off necrosis drainage: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Background & objective The endoscopic step-up approach is the mainstay of walled-off necrosis management (WON). However, using metal stents versus plastic stents during WON drainage is debatable, with limited high-quality evidence. Therefore, we aim to investigate the comparative safety and efficacy of metal versus plastic stents for endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) guided WON drainage. Methods A systematic review and meta-analysis synthesizing randomized controlled trials (RCTs), retrieved by systematically searching PubMed, EMBASE, WOS, SCOPUS, and Cochrane through July 2024. Continuous and dichotomous outcome variables were pooled using mean difference (MD) and risk ratio (RR), with confidence interval (CI) using Stata MP v. 17. We assessed heterogeneity using the chi-square test and I2 statistic. PROSPERO ID: CRD42024573859. Results Six RCTs with 352 patients were included. There was no difference between both groups regarding clinical success (RR: 1.04 with 95% CI [0.88-1.23], p = 0.61), WON recurrence (RR: 1.46 with 95% CI [0.59-3.61], p = 0.41), the need of necrosectomy (RR: 0.96 with 95% CI [0.65-1.41], p = 0.84), the total number of necrosectomy sessions (MD: 1.03 with 95% CI [- 0.33, 2.40], p = 0.14), total number of interventions (MD: - 0.09 with 95% CI [- 0.72, 0.54], p = 0.79), mortality (RR: 0.87 with 95% CI [0.32-2.37], p = 0.79), bleeding (RR: 1.35 with 95% CI [0.58-3.12], p = 0.48), and stent migration (RR: 0.69 with 95% CI [0.28-1.71], p = 0.42). However, metal stents significantly decreased the procedure duration (MD: - 11.27 with 95% CI [- 17.69, - 4.86], p < 0.001). Conclusion There was no significant difference between metal and plastic stents in efficacy and safety outcomes during WON EUS-guided drainage, except for a shorter procedural duration with metal stents.