CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Endosc Int Open 2024; 12(01): E99-E107
DOI: 10.1055/a-2221-7792
Review

Effectiveness and safety of thin vs. thick cold snare polypectomy of small colorectal polyps: Systematic review and meta-analysis

1   Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada (Ringgold ID: RIN7938)
,
1   Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada (Ringgold ID: RIN7938)
,
Marcus Vaska
2   Knowledge Resource Service, Tom Baker Cancer Centre, Calgary, Canada
,
1   Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada (Ringgold ID: RIN7938)
3   Division of Gastroenterology, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Canada
,
4   Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition and the Research and Learning Institutes, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada (Ringgold ID: RIN7979)
5   Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine, Toronto, Canada (Ringgold ID: RIN12366)
6   The Wilson Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
,
Jeffrey Mosko
7   Gastroenterology, St Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Canada (Ringgold ID: RIN10071)
,
Michael J Bourke
8   Gastroenterology, Westmead Hospital, Sydney, Australia
,
9   Division of Gastroenterology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
,
Nauzer Forbes
9   Division of Gastroenterology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
› Author Affiliations

Abstract

Background and study aims Cold-snare polypectomy (CSP) is considered the standard of care for resection of colorectal polyps ≤10 mm. Data on the efficacy of CSP performed with thin-wire snares compared with thick-wire snares are conflicting. We performed a meta-analysis comparing complete resection (CR) and adverse event rates of CSP using thin-wire and thick-wire snares.

Patients and methods Comparative studies of adult patients with ≧1 colorectal polyp(s) ≦10 mm who underwent CSP with thin-wire or thick-wire snares were included. We collected data on study, patient, polyp, and snare characteristics. The primary outcome was CR rate. Secondary outcomes were polyp retrieval rate, intraprocedural bleeding, delayed post-polypectomy bleeding, deep mural injury or perforation, patient discomfort, total sedation, and procedure time. We used random-effects models to calculate risk ratios for outcomes. We performed risk of bias assessments, rated the certainty of evidence, and assessed publication bias for all studies.

Results We included four randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and two observational studies including 1316 patients with 1679 polyps (826 thin-wire CSPs and 853 thick-wire CSPs). There was no significant difference between thin-wire CSP (92.1%) and thick-wire CSP (87.7%) for RCTs (risk ratio [RR] 1.05, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.94–1.16) or observational studies (78.1% versus 79.6%, RR 1.03, 95% CI 0.99–1.08). There were no significant differences in polyp retrieval rate or intraprocedural bleeding. There were no cases of delayed bleeding or perforation.

Conclusions We found no differences in CR rates for CSP between thin-wire and thick-wire snares. CSP, regardless of snare type, is safe and effective for resection of small colorectal polyps.

Supplementary Material



Publication History

Received: 19 July 2023

Accepted after revision: 28 November 2023

Accepted Manuscript online:
04 December 2023

Article published online:
19 January 2024

© 2024. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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