Comparing clinical outcomes after cardiopulmonary bypass with hemodsorption (HA) versus cardiopulmonary bypass without HA in patients undergoing cardiac surgery in terms of mortality and major complications.

PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases were searched for relevant randomized control trials (RCTs) that compared postoperative clinical outcomes between patients receiving intraoperative HA with cardiopulmonary bypass versus patients receiving cardiopulmonary bypass without intraoperative HA in cardiac surgery.

Sixteen RCTs with 851 patients (433 in the HA group and 418 in the control group), were included in our meta-analysis. Our meta-analysis found no significant differences between the intraoperative HA group and the control group in patients undergoing cardiac surgery in terms of 30-days/in-hospital mortality, new-onset atrial fibrillation, stroke or cerebrovascular events, postoperative delirium, renal failure/acute kidney injury, need for renal replacement, postoperative liver dysfunction, thrombocytopenia, bleeding, volume of blood loss, pneumonia, sepsis, respiratory insufficiency, duration of postoperative ventilation, distributive/septic shock, pericardial tamponade, need for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support, sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score at ICU admission, plasma-free hemoglobin levels, and fibrinogen levels. However, the pooled analysis showed a significant association between HA and decreased albumin at ICU admission (MD = − 0.28, 95% CI [0.55 to 0.01], p-value = 0.04), decreased length of ICU stay (MD = −0.66, 95% CI [−1.24 to 0.08], p-value = 0.03), and decreased length of hospital stay (MD = −0.99, 95% CI [−1.88 to −0.10], p-value = 0.03).

Our findings suggest that there is not enough evidence to endorse the role of routine intraoperative HA during cardiopulmonary bypass in improving clinical outcomes after cardiac surgery. Factors such as patient risk profile, procedure complexity, and cost implications should be taken into account when considering this adjunct therapy.