The role of T‐tubes and abdominal drains on short‐term outcomes in liver transplantation – A systematic review of the literature and expert panel recommendations

Abstract

Background: This systematic review and expert panel recommendation aims to answer the question regarding the routine use of T-tubes or abdominal drains to better manage complications and thereby improve outcomes after liver transplantation.Methods: Systematic review following PRISMA guidelines and recommendations using the GRADE approach derived from an international expert panel to assess the potential risks and benefits of T-tubes and intra-abdominal drainage in liver transplantation (CRD42021243036).Results: Of the 2996 screened records, 33 studies were included in the systematic review, of which 29 (six RCTs) assessed the use of T-tubes and four regarding surgical drains. Although some studies reported less strictures when using a T-tube, there was a trend toward more biliary complications with T-tubes, mainly related to biliary leakage. Due to the small number of studies, there was a paucity of evidence on the effect of abdominal drains with no clear benefit for or against the use of drainage. However, This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.