Effect of goal-directed fluid therapy on outcomes following abdominal surgery: a meta-analysis

Objective To systematically review the effect of goal-directed fluid therapy(GDFT)on outcomes following abdominal surgery. Methods Pubmed, Embase, CINAHAL, Scopus and Cochrane Library were searched from 1980 to May 2016 to identify randomized controlled trials involving the effect of GDFT on outcomes following abdominal surgery in adults(aged>18 yr). GDFT served as therapy group, and conventional fluid therapy served as control group.The major evaluation indexes included the postoperative mortality rate, incidence of postoperative complications and length of hospital stay.The secondary evaluation index was the recovery of postoperative gastrointestinal function.Meta-analysis was conducted using the RevMan 5.1 and Stata 12.0 softwares. Results Forty-five randomized controlled trials involving 6344 patients were included in our meta-analysis, and there were 3406 cases in therapy group and 2938 cases in control group.The results of meta-analysis showed that compared with control group, the number of patients who developed postoperative complications was significantly decreased, the length of hospital stay was shortened, and the time to first flatus and time to first liquid diet were shortened in therapy group(P 0.05). Conclusion GDFT can promote outcomes following abdominal surgery and exerts no effects on the survival rate in patients. Key words: Fluid therapy; Abdomen, surgery; Prognosis