Impact of perioperative blood transfusion on clinical outcomes in patients with colorectal liver metastasis after hepatectomy: a meta-analysis

// Xinghua Lyu 1 , Wenhui Qiao 1 , Debang Li 1 and Yufang Leng 1 1 Department of Anaesthesiology, The First Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China Correspondence to: Yufang Leng, email: // Keywords : colorectal, liver, oncology, outcomes Received : November 07, 2016 Accepted : March 09, 2017 Published : March 31, 2017 Abstract BACKGROUND: Perioperative blood transfusion may be associated with negative clinical outcomes in oncological surgery. A meta-analysis of published studies was conducted to evaluate the impact of blood transfusion on short- and long-term outcomes following liver resection of colorectal liver metastasis (CLM). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A systematic search was performed to identify relevant articles. Data were pooled for meta-analysis using Review Manager version 5.3. RESULTS: Twenty-five observational studies containing 10621 patients were subjected to the analysis. Compared with non-transfused patients, transfused patients experienced higher overall morbidity (odds ratio [OR], 1.98; 95% confidence intervals [CI] =1.49-2.33), more major complications (OR, 2.12; 95% CI =1.26-3.58), higher mortality (OR, 4.13; 95% CI =1.96-8.72), and longer length of hospital stay (weighted mean difference, 4.43; 95% CI =1.15-7.69). Transfusion was associated with reduced overall survival (risk ratio [RR], 1.24, 95% CI =1.11-1.38) and disease-free survival (RR, 1.38, 95% CI=1.23-1.56). CONCLUSION: Perioperative blood transfusion has a detrimental impact on the clinical outcomes of patients undergoing CLM resection.