A systemic review and meta-analysis of the effects of perioperative anticoagulant and antiplatelet therapy on bleeding complications in robot-assisted prostatectomy.

OBJECTIVE

Robot-assisted prostatectomy is commonly performed for the management of prostate cancer. The literature has noted that prostate cancer patients are often prone to increased risk for thromboembolic complications. Normally, such situations call for long-term anticoagulant/antiplatelet therapy. However, the administration of these drugs is usually contraindicated prior to surgical intervention to limit intra- and post-operative hemorrhagic complications. Despite some recent evidence that continued administration of anticoagulant/antiplatelet drugs does not impact intra- and post-operative outcomes, no consensus in the literature exists concerning the influence of anticoagulant and antiplatelet drug administration on intra- and post-operative outcomes for robot-assisted prostatectomy. Our aim is to evaluate the influence of perioperative administration of anticoagulant and antiplatelet drugs in patients undergoing robot-assisted prostatectomy in terms of bleeding complication incidence, blood transfusion rate, blood loss, and hospital stay duration.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The academic literature was systematically searched according to the PRISMA guidelines across five databases (Web of Science, EMBASE, CENTRAL, Scopus, and MEDLINE). Through this, we conducted a random-effect meta-analysis to evaluate the influence of perioperative administration of anticoagulant and antiplatelet drugs in patients undergoing robot-assisted prostatectomy in terms of bleeding complication incidence, blood transfusion rate, blood loss, and hospital stay duration.

RESULTS

From 993 studies, eight eligible studies containing 2516 patients (mean age: 65.7± 3.6 years) were selected for inclusion. Meta-analysis revealed a higher bleeding complication prevalence for patients receiving anticoagulants (event rate: 10.6%) compared to those receiving antiplatelets (3.4%). We also noted longer hospital stay durations for anticoagulant group patients (Hedge's g: -0.30) compared to antiplatelet group counterparts (g: -0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

The study provides preliminary evidence that anticoagulant drug administration results in higher bleeding complication incidence and longer hospital stay durations in patients undergoing robot-assisted prostatectomy relative to antiplatelet drug administration.