Background: ARS has been adopted in select patients with lung transplant for the past 2 decades in many centers. Outcomes have been reported sporadically. No pooled analysis of retrospective series has been performed.
Objective: This review and pooled analysis sought to demonstrate objective evidence of improved graft function in lung transplant patients undergoing antireflux surgery (ARS).
Methods: In accordance with Meta-analyses of Observational Studies in Epidemiology guidelines, a search of PubMed Central, Medline, Google Scholar, and Cochrane Library databases was performed. Articles documenting spirometry data pre- and post-ARS were reviewed and a random-effects model meta-analysis was performed on forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) values and the rate of change of FEV1.
Results: Six articles were included in the meta-analysis. Regarding FEV1 before and after ARS, we observed a small increase in FEV1 values in studies reporting raw values (2.02 ± 0.89 L/1 sec vs 2.14 ± 0.77 L/1 sec; n = 154) and % of predicted (77.1% ± 22.1% vs 81.2% ± 26.95%; n = 45), with a small pooled Cohen d effect size of 0.159 (P = .114). When considering the rate of change of FEV1 we observed a significant difference in pre-ARS compared with post-ARS (-2.12 ± 2.76 mL/day vs +0.05 ± 1.19 mL/day; n = 103). There was a pooled effect size of 1.702 (P = .013), a large effect of ARS on the rate of change of FEV1 values.
Conclusions: This meta-analysis of retrospective observational studies demonstrates that ARS might benefit patients with declining FEV1, by examining the rate of change of FEV1 during the pre- and postoperative periods.
Keywords: BOS; bronchiolitis obliterans; fundoplication; lung transplant; meta-analysis.
Copyright © 2019 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.