Effects of platelet-rich plasmapheresis during cardiovascular surgery: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials

This study aimed to explore the effects of platelet-rich plasmapheresis (PRP) on the amount of postoperative blood loss and the requirements for allogeneic fresh frozen plasma (FFP) and red blood cell (RBC) transfusions during cardiovascular surgery.A literature search of 7 online databases was conducted. Randomized control trials (RCT) comparing intraoperative PRP or appropriate control groups were considered suitable for this current study.Fifteen RCTs enrolling a total of 1002 patients, including 501 patients who received PRP and 501 control patients. Meta-analysis of the data from these trials showed that PRP reduced the total volume of postoperative blood loss (standardized mean difference [SMD], -0.74; 95% confidence interval [CI], -1.18 to -0.31; P 0.05), reduced postoperative fresh frozen plasma (FFP) transfusion (SMD, -0.38; 95%CI, -0.69 to -0.08; P 0.05), reduced postoperative RBCs transfusion (SMD, -0.44; 95%CI, -0.77 to -0.10; P 0.05), and reduced the proportion of patients receiving postoperative allogeneic RBC transfusions (relative risk [RR], 0.44; 95%CI, 0.21-0.91, P 0.05) during cardiovascular surgery.Conducting PRP before cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and transfusing autologous platelet-rich plasma (aPRP) after reversal of heparin could reduce postoperative blood loss, the requirements for blood products transfusion during cardiovascular surgery. A higher mean platelet count in aPRP may improve the final outcome. However, there was a high degree of undetermined heterogeneity among the analyzed trials, and larger and more precise RCTs are needed to confirm these conclusions.