Background: The aim of the present study was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of the studies comparing the efficiency and safety of selective renal artery clamping (SAC) and main renal artery clamping (MAC) in partial nephrectomy (PN) for renal cell cancer (RCC).
Methods: According to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses statement, a literature search on PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure were conducted to identify relevant studies published through December 2017. Outcomes of interest included baseline characteristics and perioperative surgical variables.
Results: In all, 14 studies involving 2824 RCC patients comparing SAC and MAC were included in this meta-analysis. No differences were detected in mean patient body mass index (P = .08), tumor size (P = .22), baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) (P = .60), American Society of Anesthesiologists score (P = .97), or RENAL score (P = .70). The mean age was significantly younger in the SAC group compared with the MAC group (P = .002). There was no difference between SAC and MAC groups in terms of warm ischemia time (P = .31), transfusion rate (P = .18), length of hospital stay (P = .47), or postoperative complication rate (P = .23). Although SAC had longer operating time (OT) (P = .04) and more estimated blood loss (EBL) (P = .0002), a lower percentage decrease in eGFR in the SAC group was found compared to the MAC group (P = .002).
Conclusions: Patients undergoing PN with SAC had longer OT and higher EBL. SAC was more frequently used in younger patient. SAC offered better renal function preservation when compared with MAC for RCC. Given the inherent limitations of the included studies, further well-designed randomized controlled trials are required to verify these findings.