SynthesisMedicine2017
Restrictive versus liberal transfusion strategies for red blood cell transfusion after hip or knee surgery: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Medicine, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- Restrictive versus Liberal blood transfusion strategies for patients undergoing orthopedic surgery: a meta-analysis of randomised trials with trial sequential analysis.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2025Pooled it
- Systematic reviews and meta-analyses comparing mortality in restrictive and liberal haemoglobin thresholds for red cell transfusion: an overview of systematic reviews.BMC medicine · 2020Pooled it
- Restrictive versus liberal strategy for red blood-cell transfusion in hip fracture patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Medicine · 2019Pooled it
- Mortality and Functional Outcomes of Liberal versus Restrictive Blood Transfusion in Elderly Patients after Hip Surgery: A Randomised Control Trial.Hip & pelvis · 2026Article
- Observational study exploring the association between sexes and perioperative morbidities after aseptic hip revision arthroplasty.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2026Observational
- Trends, complications, and readmission of allogeneic red blood cell transfusion in primary total hip arthroplasty in china: a national retrospective cohort study.Archives of orthopaedic and trauma surgery · 2024Article
- Transfusion timing relative to surgery does not impact outcomes in hip fracture patients.European journal of orthopaedic surgery & traumatology : orthopedie traumatologie · 2022Article
- Overtransfusion of packed red blood cells during massive transfusion activation: a potential quality metric for trauma resuscitation.Trauma surgery & acute care open · 2022Article
- Article
- Mortality, Morbidity and Related Outcomes Following Perioperative Blood Transfusion in Patients with Major Orthopaedic Surgery: A Systematic Review.Transfusion medicine and hemotherapy : offizielles Organ der Deutschen Gesellschaft fur Transfusionsmedizin und Immunhamatologie · 2018Review
- Intraoperative red blood cell transfusion, delayed graft function, and infection after kidney transplant: an observational cohort study.Journal of anesthesia · 2018Observational
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRed blood cell (RBC) transfusions are commonly used in surgical patients, but accompanied by many risks such as metabolic derangement, and allergic and febrile reactions. Indications for transfusion in patients after hip or knee surgery have not been definitively evaluated and remain controversial. We performed a meta-analysis to compare the benefits and harms of restrictive versus liberal transfusion strategies in patients after hip or knee surgery.
methodsThe PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library databases were searched for relevant studies through September 2015. The main clinical outcomes reported in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) included 30-day mortality, infection rate, cardiogenic complications, and length of hospital stay. The meta-analysis program of the Cochrane Collaboration (RevMan version 5.3.0) was used for data analysis. Statistical heterogeneity was assessed by both Cochran chi-squared test (Q test) and I test. Begg and Egger test were used to assess potential publication bias.
resultsWe identified 10 eligible RCTs, involving 3788 patients in total. In patients undergoing hip or knee surgery, we found no differences in mortality, or the incidence rates of pneumonia, wound infection, myocardial infarction, or congestive heart failure, between restrictive and liberal thresholds for RBC transfusion (P > .05).
conclusionRestrictive transfusion has no advantage over the liberal strategy. However, considerably less patients received blood transfusion via the restrictive strategy than with the liberal counterpart. Due to variations in the included studies, additional larger scale and well-designed studies are required to validate these conclusions.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.