Objective: To evaluate the effects of ischemic preconditioning(IP) on liver function, complications and hospital stays after hepatectomy under hepatic vascular exclusion by a meta-analysis.
Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were identified from PUBMED, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, VIP, CNKI and Wanfang Data according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Literature screening, data extraction and quality assessment were made and the meta-analysis was processed by RevMan 4.2.2.
Results: Eight RCTs involving a total of 511 patients were included. The methodological quality was evaluated and all the trials were in graded B. The meta-analysis revealed that the postoperative ALT peak level (weighted mean difference=-176.37; 95%CI:-320.67~-30.06; P=0.02)and postoperative complications incidence (odd ratio=0.64; 95%CI: 0.41~0.98; P=0.04)were lower in IP group compared with control group, but there were no significant differences in blood loss, operating time, hepatic vascular exclusion time, postoperative AST and total bilirubin peak level, and hospital stays in both groups.
Conclusions: IP reduces the postoperative ALT peak level and complications incidence after hepatectomy under hepatic vascular exclusion, but there is no sufficient evidence to support that the IP can protect the liver from ischemia/reperfusion injury.