Peri-operative use of sorafenib in liver transplantation: a time-to-event meta-analysis
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Updated: Oct 9, 2026
Surgical Procedures for a Rat Model of Partial Orthotopic Liver Transplantation with Hepatic Arterial Reconstruction
Published on: March 7, 2013
Hao-Long Qi1, Bing-Jie Zhuang1, Chang-Sheng Li1
1Hao-Long Qi, Bing-Jie Zhuang, Chang-Sheng Li, Quan-Yan Liu, Department of General Surgery, Research Center of Digestive Diseases, Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, Hubei Province, China.
Aim:
To evaluate whether the application of sorafenib during the peri-operative period of liver transplantation improves prognosis in liver cancer patients.
Methods:
We searched PubMed, EMBASE and MEDLINE for eligible articles. A total of 4 studies were found that fulfilled the previously agreed-upon standards. We then performed a systematic review and meta-analysis on the enrolled trials that met the inclusion criteria.
Results:
Out of the 104 studies identified in the database, 82 were not clinical experiments, and 18 did not fit the inclusion standards. Among the remaining 4 articles, only 1 was related to the preoperative use of sorafenib, whereas the other 3 were related to its postoperative use. As the heterogeneity among the 4 studies was high, with an I(2) of 86%, a randomized effect model was applied to pool the data. The application of sorafenib before liver transplantation had a hazard ratio (HR) of 3.29 with a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 0.33-32.56. The use of sorafenib after liver transplantation had an HR of 1.44 (95%CI: 0.27-7.71). The overall pooled HR was 1.68 (95%CI: 0.41-6.91).
Conclusion:
The results showed that the use of sorafenib during the peri-operative period of liver transplantation did not improve patient survival significantly. In fact, sorafenib could even lead to a worse prognosis, as its use may increase the hazard of poor survival.
