Systematic Reviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Nov 27, 2020; 12(11): 1115-1127
Published online Nov 27, 2020. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v12.i11.1115
Clinical utility of viscoelastic testing in chronic liver disease: A systematic review
Henry Wei, Lauren Jane Child
Henry Wei, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Middlemore Hospital, Auckland 1071, New Zealand
Lauren Jane Child, Department of Haematology, New Zealand Blood Services Epsom, Auckland 1051, New Zealand
Author contributions: Wei H and Child L designed the research, analysed the data and wrote the paper; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare that they have no competing interests.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised in accordance with this checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Henry Wei, FRACP, MBChB, Doctor, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Middlemore Hospital, 100 Hospital Road, Otahuhu, Auckland 2025, Auckland 1071, New Zealand. wiskeydelta@gmail.com
Received: May 4, 2020
Peer-review started: May 4, 2020
First decision: May 24, 2020
Revised: June 1, 2020
Accepted: September 1, 2020
Article in press: September 1, 2020
Published online: November 27, 2020
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Conventional coagulation tests do not predict bleeding or thrombosis risk in liver cirrhosis. Viscoelastic tests of coagulation (VETs) such as thrombelastography (TEG) is a point of care test that can predict clinically significant coagulopathy and the need for blood product transfusion. Despite this, VETs have not been widely used in patients with chronic liver disease outside the transplant setting.

Research motivation

The systematic review provides a summary and evaluation of existing clinical evidence for VET guided transfusion in chronic liver disease. This data will be important to improve the haemostatic management in these patients.

Research objectives

To verify the utility of VET guided transfusion in chronic liver disease patients presenting with bleeding or who require an invasive procedure.

Research methods

A comprehensive systematic literature search was performed according to the methodology of evidenced-based medicine. We included randomized controlled trials that compared the use of VET guided transfusion to conventional coagulation tests in the setting of chronic liver disease who presented with bleeding or required an invasive procedure.

Research results

Five studies were included in the analysis examining the use of TEG guided blood product transfusion in cirrhosis prior to invasive procedures, non-variceal haemorrhage, variceal haemorrhage and liver transplantation. TEG guided transfusion reduced overall blood product utilization compared to standard of care in all five studies. No increase in length of stay, mortality or risk of bleeding was observed. In those presenting with variceal bleeding, there was a statistically significant reduction in rate of re-bleeding at 42 d in the TEG arm versus standard of care.

Research conclusions

This systematic review highlights the role of VET in reducing blood product utilization in chronic liver disease without compromising safety and may enable guidelines to be developed to ensure patients with liver disease are optimally managed.

Research perspectives

There is an urgent need to develop protocols utilizing VET to guide transfusion in liver cirrhosis outside of the transplant setting in order to optimize haemostatic management of these patients.