Abstract

Abstract Background Patients with cirrhosis are a risk factor for coagulopathy and bleeding complications. Thromboelastography (TEG) guided therapy is available to rapidly assess and guide blood product transfusion in this population. Purpose This study aims to determine if TEG-guided therapy is able to decrease the administration of blood products and reduce adverse events such as bleeding and mortality compared to standard coagulation testing (SCT). Method We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of literature in PubMed, EMBASE, and The Cochrane Library and pooled six randomized-controlled trials comparing thromboelastography versus standard coagulation testing in patients with cirrhosis. A total of six studies were pooled (n= 386). Primary outcomes were mean platelet transfusion units and fresh frozen plasma (FFP) transfusion units. Secondary outcomes were mortality and bleeding events. Result(s) Compared to SCT, there was a significant standard mean decrease in platelet (P<0.00001) and FFP (P<0.00001) administration compared to TEG perioperatively prior to a liver transplant. However, there was no significant difference in the pooled odds ratio between TEG and SCT in patients receiving both platelets and FFP (OR 1.40 [95% Cl 0.61-3.23, P=0.42]). Recurrent variceal bleeding was significantly reduced in the TEG group compared to SCT for platelet transfusion (OR 0.05 [95% Cl 0.01-0.20, P<0.0001]) or FFP transfusions (OR 0.18 [95% Cl 0.05-0.63, P=0.007]). With regards to the 5-day, 28-day, 42-day, and 90-day mortality, there was no significant difference between the pooled odds ratio between the TEG and SCT groups (OR 0.69 [95% Cl 0.47-1.02, P=0.06]). The 24-hour, 48-hour, 5-day, and 42-day rebleeding rates were significantly lower in TEG versus SCT groups (OR 0.50 [95% Cl 0.29-0.85, P = 0.01)]. Conclusion(s) The use of TEG-guided therapy favors a reduction in platelet and FFP transfusion compared to SCT in patients with cirrhosis. Additionally, TEG-guided therapy is able to improve patient care by reducing the rebleeding rate of patients with cirrhosis compared to SCT. However, this same effect was not seen for mortality. Please acknowledge all funding agencies by checking the applicable boxes below None Disclosure of Interest None Declared

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