Surgical versus interventional coronary revascularization in kidney transplant recipients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

AIM: To study the most beneficial coronary revascularization strategy in kidney transplant recipients (KTR). METHODS: In 16th June 2022 and updated on 26th February 2023, we searched in five databases including PubMed for relevant articles. The odds ratio (OR) together with the 95% confidence interval (95%CI) were used to report the results. RESULTS: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was significantly associated with significant lower in-hospital mortality (OR 0.62; 95%CI 0.51–0.75) and 1-year mortality (OR 0.81; 95%CI 0.68–0.97), but not overall mortality (mortality at the last follow-up point) (OR 1.05; 95%CI 0.93–1.18) rather than coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). Moreover, PCI was significantly associated with lower acute kidney injury prevalence (OR 0.33; 95%CI 0.13–0.84) compared to CABG. One study indicated that non-fatal graft failure prevalence did not differ between the PCI and the CABG group until 3 years of follow up. Moreover, one study demonstrated a short hospital length of stay in the PCI group rather than the CABG group. CONCLUSION: Current evidence indicated the superiority of PCI than CABG as a coronary revascularization procedure in short- but not long-term outcomes in KTR. We recommend further randomized clinical trials for demonstrating the best therapeutic modality for coronary revascularization in KTR. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11255-023-03546-9.