ABSTRACT Background and Aims Dehydrated alcohol and lauromacrogol are the predominant sclerosing agents employed in cyst ablation. A clear determination of the therapeutic effects comparison between the two is still lacking. This study evaluates the therapeutic efficacy of dehydrated alcohol versus lauromacrogol sclerotherapy in the management of simple renal cysts (SRCs). Methods Descriptive statistics for baseline characteristics and outcomes were gathered for each group, covering clinical data such as sex, age, location, position, baseline and post‐sclerotherapy volumes, percentage, and level of disappearance, and adverse reaction (AR). The primary analysis used a propensity score model with covariates like age, cyst location, position, and baseline volume. We also utilized the relatively novel statistical methodologies of propensity score (PS)‐based inverse probability weighting (IPW) and overlap weight (OW) adjustments to compare outcomes between the dehydrated alcohol and lauromacrogol groups. Results Patients were stratified according to baseline characteristics, and there was no significant difference between the two groups. After application of IPW and OW, all these baseline differences were well balanced between the two groups (i.e., standardized differences < 10%). Overall, there was no significant difference in cyst disappearance and level of disappearance in post‐sclerotherapy follow‐up between the two groups with IPW analysis ( p = 0.61, p = 0.43). There was no significant difference in cyst disappearance post‐sclerotherapy follow‐up between the two groups with OW analysis ( p = 0.57) and in the level of disappearance post‐sclerotherapy between the two groups with OW analysis ( p = 0.50). Conclusions Our study found that dehydrated alcohol has a sclerosing effect on simple renal cysts similar to lauromacrogol, based on regression rates. Compared to open surgery, this method reduces tissue damage and speeds up recovery, providing surgeons with better decision‐making information.
Dong et al. (Fri,) studied this question.