Intracranial drainage versus extracranial shunt in the treatment of intracranial arachnoid cysts: a meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE

To review the literature and analyze the efficacy and safety of two surgery procedures, intracranial drainage and extracranial shunt, for intracranial arachnoid cysts.

METHODS

We searched the online Medlars, PubMed, and Cochrane Central electronic databases and collected studies of patients with intracranial arachnoid cysts treated with two surgical methods.

RESULTS

The meta-analysis results shows that there were not statistically significant in clinical symptoms improvement, cyst reduction, the improvement of epilepsy, epidural hematoma, cerebrospinal fluid leak, and recurrence rate (P > 0.05, with RR values are 0.99, 0.94, 1.00, 0.94, 1.21, and 0.75 respectively). There was statistically significant in the occurrence rate of intracranial infection (P = 0.0004, RR = 0.28). The intracranial drainage group was lower than extracranial shunt group.

CONCLUSION

The results indicated that the efficacy and safety of two surgery procedures are similar in the treatment of intracranial arachnoid cysts, but the intracranial drainage was better than extracranial shunt in reducing the risk of intracranial infection.