Four Surgical Strategies for the Treatment of Cesarean Scar Defect: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective: This network meta-analysis compared treatment via laparoscopy, hysteroscopy (HP), combined laparoscopy with HP (LH), and vaginal repair (VR) for reducing intermittent abnormal uterine bleeding and cesarean scar defect (CSD) diverticulum depth in patients with CSD.

Data sources: Electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASE, The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, ClinicalTrials.gov, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, and China National Knowledge Integrated) were searched for articles published through June 13, 2018.

Methods of study selection: The search included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies of surgical treatment for CSD. Standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were reported. RCTs were evaluated by the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool, observational studies by Risk of Bias in Nonrandomized Studies of Intervention, and overall evidence quality by grade. Data were analyzed by STATA (version 15.0; StataCorp, College Station, TX) and R software for windows (version 3.5.0; R Core Team, 2018).

Tabulation, integration, and results: Ten studies (n = 858; 4 RCTs and 6 observational studies) were included. Patients who underwent uterine diverticulum resection by LH had a shorter duration of abnormal uterine bleeding than those by HP (SMD = 1.36, 95% CI, 0.37-2.36; p = .007) and VR (SMD = 1.58, 95% CI, 0.97-2.19; p <.0001). LH reduced the CSD diverticulum depth more than VR (SMD = 1.57, 95% CI, 0.54-2.61; p = .003). There was no significant difference in efficacy among the surgical procedures.

Conclusion: LH reduced intermittent abnormal uterine bleeding and scar depth more than the other surgical interventions. Larger clinical trials are warranted to verify this analysis.

Keywords: Abnormal uterine bleeding; Combined laparoscopy with hysteroscopy; Hysteroscope; Laparoscope; Vaginal repair.