Preoperative biliary drainage for obstructive jaundice

Our analyses neither supports nor refutes pre-operative biliary drainage for patients with obstructive jaundice needing surgery. In some specific lesion site it may cause more complications. Pre-operative biliary drainage also prolonged hospital stay and increased cost. However, the strength of evidence is low because of the poor quality of the included trials. More rigorously designed randomised clinical trials with larger sample size and advanced techniques and drugs are needed.