Palliative long-term abdominal drains vs large volume paracenteses for the management of refractory ascites in end-stage liver disease

Background: Long-term abdominal drains (LTAD) are a cost-effective palliative measure to manage malignant ascites in the community, but their use in patients with end-stage chronic liver disease and refractory ascites is not routine practice. The safety and cost-effectiveness of LTAD are currently being studied in this setting, with preliminary positive results. We hypothesised that palliative LTAD are as effective and safe as repeat palliative large volume paracentesis (LVP) in patients with cirrhosis and refractory ascites and may offer advantages in patients' quality of life.

Aim: To compare the effectiveness and safety of palliative LTAD and LVP in refractory ascites secondary to end-stage chronic liver disease.

Methods: A retrospective, observational cohort study comparing the effectiveness and safety outcomes of palliative LTAD and regular palliative LVP as a treatment for refractory ascites in consecutive patients with end-stage chronic liver disease followed-up at our United Kingdom tertiary centre between 2018 and 2022 was conducted. Fisher's exact tests and the Mann-Whitney U test were used to compare qualitative and quantitative variables, respectively. Kaplan-Meier survival estimates were generated to stratify time-related outcomes according to the type of drain.

Results: Thirty patients had a total of 35 indwelling abdominal drains and nineteen patients underwent regular LVP. The baseline characteristics were similar between the groups. Prophylactic antibiotics were more frequently prescribed in patients with LTAD (P = 0.012), while the incidence of peritonitis did not differ between the two groups (P = 0.46). The incidence of acute kidney injury (P = 0.014) and ascites/drain-related hospital admissions (P = 0.004) were significantly higher in the LVP group. The overall survival was similar in the two groups (log-rank P = 0.26), but the endpoint-free survival was significantly shorter in the LVP group (P = 0.003, P < 0.001, P = 0.018 for first ascites/drain-related admission, acute kidney injury and drain-related complications, respectively).

Conclusion: The use of LTAD in the management of refractory ascites in palliated end-stage liver disease is effective, safe, and may reduce hospital admissions and utilisation of healthcare resources compared to LVP.