To determine the efficacy of the endoscopic microradiofrenquency in the treatment of patients with refractory gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) using meta-analysis.

Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, Elsevier, Wanfang, VIP and CNKI were searched by computer to collect literatures on the efficacy of endoscopic microradiofrenquency for refractory GERD. The literatures were screened by inclusion and exclusion criteria, and the data of the selected literatures were extracted. Meta analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software.

A total of 9 studies were enrolled, all of which were cohort studies. The meta-analysis results showed that endoscopic microradiofrenquency could reduce the heartburn (mean difference -2.21, P<0.000 01), regurgitation (mean difference -3.85, P<0.000 01), chest pain (mean difference -2.92, P<0.000 01), cough (mean difference -3.87, P<0.000 01) and asthma score (mean difference -4.15, P<0.000 01). The procedure also reduced GERD-health related quality of life (GERD-HRQL) score (mean difference -19.84, P<0.000 01), the use of proton pump inhibitor (PPI) (99.9% vs 41.2%, P<0.000 01) and esophageal inflammation (62.3% vs 34.0%, P<0.000 01). After treatment, the satisfaction score of patients were improved (mean difference 2.46, P<0.000 01), but the difference in the number of satisfied patients was not statistically significant (20.0% vs 87.9%, P=0.28).

Endoscopic microradiofrenquency can significantly relieve patients' heartburn, regurgitation, chest pain, cough, asthma and other symptoms, improve the quality of life, reduce the use of PPI, and relieve esophageal inflammation.