Weaning rápido vs. weaning gradual de ventriculostomía externa en hidrocefalia secundaria a hemorragia subaracnoidea: Revisión sistemática de la literatura y metaanálisis

Abstract

Objective: To conduct a systematic review by comparing two strategies of external ventricular drain (EVD) in patients with acute hydrocephalus and its association with the proportion of definite drain, infection of the central nervous system, and duration of hospital stay in each strategy.
Design: Systematic review of literature.
Data sources: PubMed, Embase, Lilacs. Grey literature was included by conducting searches through Scholar Google, Dialnet, Open Gray, Teseo and Worldcat until the 10th September, 2019.
Methods: An exhaustive search of studies was done of the last 20 years in English, Spanish and Portuguese, which compares two strategies of external ventricular drain weaning (EVD): Rapid (WR) Vs Gradual (WG)in patients with acute hydrocephalus. The primary result for this systematic review was the proportion of Ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt placement in each of the regimes. Besides, the proportion of the infection of the central nervous system and the duration of the hospital stay was evaluated. Two researchers extracted in an independent way the information of the studies and results according to the guide PRISMA.
Results: The review produced 3 articles in total which followed with the criteria of inclusion and which were considered of acceptable methodological quality, with 1198 non-superimposed participants, 569 who were subjected to rapid weaning (RW), 629 in the group of Gradual Weaning (GW). There were no significant differences between the 2 weaning´s groups and DVP OR 0.78 (IC 95% 0.3 a 2.06; P= 0.001; I2=85%), for the infection of the Central Nervous System (CNS) OR 0.54 (IC 95% 0,07 a 4.24); P= 0,05; I2= 74%) but a significant differences was found in the duration of the hospital stay in favour of the strategy of RW, OR -4.34 (IC 95% -5.92 a -2.75, P= <0,00001; I2= 57%).
Conclusion: With the current available evidence is not possible to conclude which is the best strategy of weaning for EVD regarding to the proportion of definite shunt or infections of the CNS; but if there is a clear trend regarding the length of hospital stay in the WR strategy. It is necessary to establish clear criteria as to the definition of WR or WG and to create standards as to the times and the precise definition of therapeutic failure with respect to these tests, to later integrate and test these methods in ideally prospective and randomized studies.