Systematic Review and Meta-analysis: Partial External Biliary Diversion in Progressive Familial Intrahepatic Cholestasis

Objectives:We assessed available data on impact of partial external biliary diversion (PEBD) surgery on clinical outcomes in patients with progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (PFIC).Methods:We performed a systematic literature review (PubMed) and meta-analysis to evaluate relationships between liver biochemistry parameters (serum bile acids, bilirubin, and alanine aminotransferase [ALT]) and early response (pruritus improvement) or long-term outcomes (need for liver transplant) in patients with PFIC who underwent PEBD.Results:Searches identified 175 publications before September 2018; 16 met inclusion criteria. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis examined ability of liver biochemistry parameters to discriminate patients who demonstrated early and long-term response to PEBD from those who did not. Regarding pruritus improvement in 155 included patients in aggregate, 104 (67%) were responders, 14 (9%) had partial response, and 37 (24%) were nonresponders. In ROC analyses of individual patient data, post-PEBD serum concentration of bile acids, in particular, could discriminate responders from nonresponders for pruritus improvement (area under the curve, 0.99; P<0.0001; n=42); to a lesser extent, this was also true for bilirubin (0.87; P=0.003; n=31), whereas ALT could not discriminate responders from nonresponders for pruritus improvement (0.74; P=0.06; n=28). Reductions from pre-PEBD values in serum bile acid concentration (0.89; P=0.0003; n=32) and bilirubin (0.98; P=0.002; n=18) but not ALT (0.62; P=0.46; n=18) significantly discriminated decreased aggregate need for liver transplant.Conclusion:Changes in bile acids seem particularly useful in discriminating early and long-term post-PEBD outcomes and may be potential biomarkers of response to interruption of enterohepatic circulation in patients with PFIC.