Evaluation of different antibiotic prophylaxis strategies for hepatectomy: A network meta-analysis

The application of antibiotic prophylaxis for hepatectomy remains uncertain. This research aims to evaluate different antibiotic prophylaxis strategies for hepatectomy based on network meta-analysis.

Literature retrieval was conducted in globally recognized databases, namely, MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane Central, to address relative randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating antibiotic prophylaxis strategies for hepatectomy. Relative parametric data, including surgical site infection (SSI), remote site infection (RSI) and total infection (TI), were quantitatively pooled and estimated based on the Bayesian theorem. The values of surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) probabilities regarding each parameter were calculated and ranked. Node-splitting analysis was performed to test the inconsistency of the main results, and publication bias was assessed by examining the funnel plot symmetry. Additional pairwise meta-analyses were performed to validate the differences between respective strategies at the statistical level.

After a detailed review, a total of 5 RCTs containing 4 different strategies were included for the network meta-analysis. The results indicated that the application of no antibiotics possessed the highest possibility of having the best clinical effects on SSI (SUCRA, 0.56), RSI (SUCRA, 0.46) and TI (SUCRA, 0.61). Moreover, node-splitting analysis and funnel plot symmetries illustrated no inconsistencies in the current study. Additional pairwise meta-analyses determined that additional and long-duration applications had no clinical benefit.

Based on current evidence, we concluded that antibiotic prophylaxis did not reveal clinical benefit in hepatectomy. However, more relative trials and statistical evidence are still needed.