Although sclerotherapy is the current standard therapy for bleeding esophageal varices, the best method for initial control is unclear. The aim of this meta-analysis was to compare the efficacy and toxicity of somatostatin and vasopressin in short-term treatment of hemorrhage from esophageal varices.

The efficacy of enteral nutrition as primary therapy of active Crohn's disease is controversial. The aim of the study was to compare by meta-analysis the likelihood of clinical response to liquid diet therapy vs. corticosteroids and to assess the importance of formula composition to efficacy.

Over 60 studies have addressed the hypothesis that the risk of colorectal cancer is increased following cholecystectomy; these studies have yielded inconsistent findings. The aim of the present study was to quantitatively summarize the results from the collective studies.

The efficacy of prophylactic sclerotherapy is unclear because published studies of prophylactic sclerotherapy have reached conflicting conclusions. Meta-analysis was used to determine the efficacy of prophylactic sclerotherapy of esophageal varices. The meta-analysis included all English-language articles reporting results of randomized controlled trials of prophylactic sclerotherapy in adults. Prophylactic sclerotherapy reduced the 13-month mortality rate by 11% (95% confidence interval, 4%-19%), which represents a 41% relative reduction in mortality rate. Across studies, the mortality rate reductions were positively correlated with the bleeding rate reductions and negatively correlated with complication rates. The pooled mortality reduction remained significant when sensitivity analyses included the interim results from the abstracts and foreign-language articles. Nonetheless, prophylactic sclerotherapy should not be widely applied at present because complication rates are high and less costly treatments are available. Furthermore, all published studies offered more intensive follow-up to treated patients, which may have confounded the results and consistently inflated the benefits of sclerotherapy.

Endoscopic hemostatic therapy for upper gastrointestinal bleeding is gaining widespread acceptance despite often conflicting results of randomized controlled trials. To examine the effect of endoscopic therapy in acute nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage, a meta-analysis was performed using a computerized search of the English-language literature and a bibliographic review. The methodology, population, intervention, and outcomes of each relevant trial were evaluated by duplicate independent review. Thirty randomized controlled trials evaluating hemostatic endoscopic treatment were identified. Endoscopic therapy significantly reduced rates of further bleeding (odds ratio, 0.38; 95% confidence interval, 0.32-0.45), surgery (odds ratio, 0.36; 95% confidence interval, 0.28-0.45), and mortality (odds ratio, 0.55; 95% confidence interval, 0.40-0.76). When analyzed separately, thermal-contact devices (monopolar and bipolar electrocoagulation and heater probe), laser treatment, and injection therapy all significantly decreased further bleeding and surgery rates. The reductions in mortality were comparable for all three forms of therapy, but the decrease reached statistical significance only for laser therapy. Further examination of subgroups indicated that endoscopic treatment decreased rates of further bleeding, surgery, and mortality in patients with high-risk endoscopic features of active bleeding or nonbleeding visible vessels. Rebleeding was not reduced by endoscopic therapy in patients with ulcers containing flat pigmented spots or adherent clots. Endoscopic hemostatic therapy provides a clinically important reduction in morbidity and mortality in patients with acute nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage.

The optimal degree and duration of suppression of gastric acidity required for the healing of peptic ulcers has never been established. Although very potent inhibitors of acid secretion are now available, the need for this degree of suppression has not been shown, and there is a possibility of adverse effects because of pronounced acid inhibition. Therefore, a model has been constructed that defines the relationship between duodenal ulcer healing and antisecretory therapy. Acid suppression data were obtained directly from investigators as raw data from 24-hour studies of acid secretion. Twenty-one experiments from seven investigators provided 490 24-hour studies using 19 different treatment regimens. Healing data were collected from a metaanalysis of published clinical trials of duodenal ulcer healing. A total of 144 published trials in 14,208 patients provided healing data at several endoscopic endpoints for the 19 drug regimens for which acidity data were provided. Weighted least-squares polynomial regression analysis was used to define those parameters of antisecretory therapy that contributed most to duodenal ulcer healing and to define the shape of the response surface. A highly significant correlation (r = 0.9814) was found between healing and the degree of acid suppression, the duration of acid suppression, and the length of therapy. The shape of the contour expression this relationship shows that healing increases as the duration of suppression increases and as gastric pH increases. However, suppression that increased pH beyond 3.0 was not found to increase ulcer healing further. It is concluded that a longer duration of antisecretory effect and/or a longer duration of therapy are of greater importance than potency for duodenal ulcer healing.