BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Preoperative glucocorticoid administration has been proposed for reducing postoperative morbidity. This is not widely used before esophageal resection because of incomplete knowledge regarding its effectiveness. The aim here was to assess the effects of preoperative glucocorticoid administration in adults undergoing esophageal resection for esophageal carcinoma. METHODS: Studies were identified by searching the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CancerLit, SCIELO and Cochrane Library, and by manual searching from relevant articles. The last search for clinical trials for this systematic review was performed in December 2005. This review included randomized studies of patients with potentially resectable carcinomas of the esophagus that compared preoperative glucocorticoid administration with placebo. Data were extracted by the reviewer, and the trial quality was assessed using Jadad scoring. Odds ratio with 95% confidence limits and bayesian relative risk were used to assess the significance of the difference between the treatment arms. RESULTS: Four randomized trials involving 169 patients were found. There were no differences in postoperative mortality, anastomotic leakage, hepatic and renal failure between the glucocorticoid and placebo groups. There were fewer postoperative respiratory complications (95% CI = 0.09-0.46), sepsis (95% CI = 0.10-0.81), and total postoperative complications (95% CI = 0.06-0.23) with preoperative glucocorticoid administration. CONCLUSIONS: Prophylactic administration of glucocorticoids is associated with decreased postoperative complications.
Esophagectomy; Meta-analysis; Methylprednisolone; Multiple organ failure; Review literature
