To evaluate the convenience and effectiveness of preoperative placement of obstruction catheter and stent in the treatment of obstructive colorectal cancer through a meta-analysis.

A study search was undertaken in PubMed, the Cochrane Library, FMRS, VIP, Wanfang and CNKI database from the date of their establishment to March 2020. RevMan 5.3. software was used to analyze the convenience and effectiveness of the two methods.

A total of 1 136 patients were included in 17 randomized controlled studies, including 566 patients in the catheter group and 570 patients in the stent group. Operation time, expenditure, rate of success in the catheter group were better than those in the stent group, with statistically significant differences (Z=28.70, 4.66, 3.22; P<0.05). Relief time of abdominal pain and distention, intestinal preparation time, hospitalization time in the the stent group were better than those in the catheter group, with statistically significant differences (Z=4.15, 2.31, 2.92; P<0.05). However, no differences were observed in the reduction of the bowel diameter and postoperative complications (P>0.05). There was no evidence of publication bias in studies used for relieving time of abdominal pain and distention (P=0.075).

Current evidence indicates that the obstruction catheter is more economical, faster and higher success rate, but it is slower relieving abdominal pain and distention and longer preoperative intestinal preparation time and hospitalization time than the stent during the treatment of obstructive colorectal cancer.