ReviewAnnals of gastroenterological surgery2026
Rethinking Perioperative Corticosteroids in Esophageal Cancer Surgery: Evidence From an Integrative Meta-Analysis.
Review in Annals of gastroenterological surgery, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Esophagectomy remains a highly invasive procedure associated with substantial postoperative morbidity. Pulmonary complications, anastomotic leakage, and in-hospital mortality are of particular concern. Perioperative corticosteroids are often administered to attenuate excessive inflammatory responses; however, the clinical impact in esophageal cancer surgery remains inconclusive, with studies yielding inconsistent findings and lacking integrated long-term evaluation. This meta-analysis aimed to comprehensively assess the effects of perioperative corticosteroid administration on both short-term complications and long-term survival in patients undergoing esophagectomy. Methods: A systematic literature search identified randomized controlled trials and observational studies published to October 2025 that examined corticosteroid use during esophagectomy. Primary outcomes comprised postoperative pneumonia, anastomotic leakage, and in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes comprised respiratory failure, acute respiratory distress syndrome, wound infection, hepatic and renal dysfunction, cardiac complications, and overall survival. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) and hazard ratios were calculated using random-effects models. Results: Nineteen studies involving 38 316 patients were included. Perioperative corticosteroid use was associated with a significantly lower incidence of pneumonia (OR = 0.71), in-hospital mortality (OR = 0.79), and respiratory failure (OR = 0.30) compared with no corticosteroids. No increase in anastomotic leakage or wound infection rates were observed with versus without perioperative corticosteroids; long-term survival was unaffected (hazard ratio: 0.85), and no excess risk of other complications was detected. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first meta-analysis integrating both short- and long-term outcomes, suggesting that perioperative corticosteroids may reduce major postoperative complications without evidence of adverse long-term oncologic outcomes; however, these findings were largely driven by observational studies.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.