Gastric peroral endoscopic myotomy for gastroparesis: A systematic review of efficacy and safety.

INTRODUCTION

To assess the efficacy and safety of gastric peroral endoscopic myotomy for the treatment of gastroparesis.

METHODS

PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library and Web of Science databases were searched from their earliest records to May 2018. The evaluation of clinical efficacy and safety was based on gastric emptying scintigraphy normalization, the improvement in clinical symptoms and adverse event rate. R 3.5.0 software was used to calculate the pooled estimate rates by meta-analysis. The improvement rate of the Gastroparesis Cardinal Symptom Index score was analyzed at different follow-up times.

RESULTS

Fourteen studies with a total of 276 patients were included in this systematic review. The pooled gastric emptying scintigraphy normalization rate was 61.3% (95% CI, 51.5-70.8%) and clinical symptom improvement rate was 88.2% (95% CI, 83.6-93.1%). Intra-operative complications were found in about 3.2% (95% CI, 0.1-4.2%) of all included patients, and postoperative adverse events in 2.1% (95% CI, 0.3-4.8%). The mean Gastroparesis Cardinal Symptom Index score improvement rate was about 90.2% at one month follow-up, 83.3% at three months, 70.3% at six months, 52.4% at twelve months and 57.1% at eighteen months.

DISCUSSION: Our systematic review demonstrates that gastric peroral endoscopic myotomy is a safe and effective treatment for gastroparesis. Though the short-term outcomes are promising, prospective, randomized, controlled studies with large sample size and long-term follow-up are required to further confirm these results.