Esophageal Stent for Refractory Variceal Bleeding: A Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis

Figure 4

Mortality and causes of death of patients treated with esophageal stents. (a) Forest plot shows that about one-third [34.5% (95% CI: 24.8%–44.8%)] of the 80 patients in the 5 studies died within 30 or 60 d of undergoing esophageal stents. There was no evidence of heterogeneity among studies (). (b) About nine-tenth [87.4% (95% CI: 71.2%–97.5%)] of deaths were due to hepatic or multiple organ failure in patients treated with esophageal stents. There was no evidence of heterogeneity among studies (). (c) Just over one-tenth [12.6% (95% CI: 2.5%–28.8%)] of deaths were contributed to uncontrolled bleeding. There was no evidence of heterogeneity among studies ().

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