Comparison of the efficacy and safety of different surgical procedures for patients with hemorrhoids: a network meta-analysis

PurposeThis study used a network meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy and safety of different surgical approaches in patients with hemorrhoids.MethodsPubMed, Embase, Web of science, and Cochrane Library were searched for randomized controlled trials on patients with hemorrhoids treated by different surgical procedures. The search was conducted until January 15, 2023. Two investigators independently screened the resulting literature, extracted information, evaluated the risk of bias of the included studies, and performed a network meta-analysis.ResultA total of 23 randomized controlled studies were included and involved 3573 patients and 10 interventions, namely L (Ligasure), M-M (Milligan-Morgan), F (Ferguson), H (Harmonic), OH (open Harmonic), CH (closed Harmonic), PPH (procedure for prolapse and hemorrhoids), TST (tissue selecting technique), T-S (TST STARE+; tissue selection therapy stapled transanal rectal resection plus), and STARR (stapled transanal rectal resection). Network meta-analysis results showed that L has the shortest mean operating time and STARR has the longest mean operating time, F and H have the longest length of hospitalization and T-S has the shortest length of hospitalization, PPH has the most intraoperative blood loss and L has the least intraoperative blood loss, TST has the shortest time to first defecation and M-M has the longest time to first defecation, STARR had the least recurrence and PPH had the most recurrence, PPH had the least anal stenosis and L had the most anal stenosis, and F had the least postoperative pain after 24 h and PPH had the most postoperative pain after 24 h.ConclusionCurrent evidence suggests that L is best at reducing mean operative time and intraoperative bleeding, T-S is best at reducing mean length of stay, TST has the shortest time to first defecation, STARR is best at reducing recurrence rates, PPH is best at reducing postoperative anal stricture, and F is best at reducing postoperative pain after 24 h.