Abstract
Abstract Background: Continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) has been widely used in the critical care setting and anticoagulation is usually necessitated. However, critically ill patients are commonly at incremental risk of bleeding, which contributed to the hesitation of anticoagulant use for CRRT in clinical practice. The current guideline recommended CRRT proceed without anticoagulation in patients with contraindication to citrate and increased bleeding risk. Nevertheless, the efficacy of anticoagulation-free CRRT remains inconsistent. Therefore, the purpose of our present systematic review is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of anticoagulant-free CRRT based on the current literatures. Methods: We conducted a comprehensive search of PubMed (US National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD, USA), Cochrane Library databases and EMBASE from database inception to January 12, 2019 for potential candidate studies. Studies included adult critically ill (age > 18 years) patients with increased bleeding risk, and underwent CRRT without anticoagulation were considered for the inclusion. Results: Finally, 17 observational studies and 3 randomized controlled trials with 1615 patients were included in our present meta-analysis. There was no significant difference in filter lifespan between the anticoagulation-free and systemic heparin group. The filter lifespan was significantly prolonged in the citrate (WMD -23.01, 95%CI [-28.62, -17.39], P < 0.001; I 2 = 0%, P = 0.53) and nafamostat (WMD -8.4, 95%CI [-9.9, -6.9], P < 0.001; I 2 = 33.7%, P = 0.21) groups, compared with anticoagulation-free group. The averaged filter lifespan of the anticoagulation-free CRRT ranged from 10.2 to 52.5 hours. Conclusion: The filter lifespan in anticoagulation-free patients with increased bleeding risk was comparable to that in patients without increased bleeding risk underwent systemic heparin anticoagulation CRRT. Nafamostat was not recommended for CRRT anticoagulation due to its drawbacks. Currently, the optimal choice of anticoagulation strategy for critically ill patients without citrate contraindications at high risk of bleeding should be regional citrate anticoagulation. Further studies should focus on the special cut-off value of activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), international normalized ratio (INR) and platelet (PLT) count, at which the anticoagulation-free CRRT would be beneficial. Key words: Anticoagulation, critically ill patients, continuous renal replacement therapy, filter failure, bleeding
Quality indicators in continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) care in critically ill patients: protocol for a systematic review
