ABSTRACT
@#BACKGROUND: Kidney transplantation (KT) remains to be the preferred mode of renal replacement therapy as it offers the best clinical outcomes, a better quality of life, and lesser complications compared to dialysis. However, KT still carries a number of complications, one of which is graft thrombosis. Despite advancements in treatment, graft thrombosis is still an important cause of early graft loss. Prevention therefore, is of significance. A growing number of evidence suggests that low-dose aspirin has a role in the primary prevention of allograft thrombosis. RESEARCH QUESTION: Among renal transplant recipients, does postoperative aspirin prevent early renal allograft thrombosis? OBJECTIVE: To conduct a meta-analysis to determine the effect of postoperative aspirin on preventing renal allograft thrombosis. METHODS: A systematic search of PubMed, Google Scholar, CENTRAL, and clinicaltrials.gov was done by two independent authors. All randomized and non-randomized studies determining the effect of postoperative aspirin on renal vein/allograft thrombosis were reviewed for eligibility and quality assessment. Studies on both adult and pediatric kidney transplant recipients were included. RESULTS: Five non-randomized cohort studies (3 in adults, 2 in children) with a total of 2,393 patients were included. Using the Newcastle-Ottawa scale, two studies were found to have good quality, while three had poor quality. In a fixed-effects meta-analysis, aspirin was associated with a reduced risk for renal allograft thrombosis in adults (RR 0.13; 95% CI 0.06, 0.28;I2 22%) and children (RR 0.11; 95% CI 0.03, 0.40; I2 0%). CONCLUSION: Post-operative aspirin was associated with reduced risk for renal allograft thrombosis in both adults and children. However, the best available evidence is limited to observational studies. A well-designed randomized controlled trial is needed to confirm this finding.