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
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, 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
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
Core Tip
Core Tip: Conventional coagulation tests do not predict bleeding or thrombosis risk in liver cirrhosis. Viscoelastic testing such as thromboelastography is a point of care test which can better predict clinically significant coagulopathy and the need for blood product transfusion compared to conventional coagulation tests. Randomized control trials have shown the clinical benefits of viscoelastic testing in liver cirrhosis in the perioperative setting and in those presenting acutely with bleeding. The primary aim of this systematic review is to verify the utility of viscoelastic testing guided transfusion in chronic liver disease patients presenting with bleeding or who require an invasive procedure.