A Meta-Analysis for Postoperative Alternations of Aortic Coarctation

Abstract

Objective: To investigate postoperative vascular changes of patients with coarctation of the aorta (CoA). Methods: Literature review of updated articles was performed in June 2023 through the following databases: PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, Crohrane Library, CNKI and Wanfang database. All the case-control studies regarding the postoperative changes of vascular structure and function in patients with CoA were analyzed. Results: A total of 596 articles from the above databases were initially identified, with 10 articles being selected for meta-analysis. The analysis showed that weighted mean difference (WMD) of carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) was 0.07 (95% CI = 0.01~0.13, p < 0.01) and WMD of flow mediated dilation (FMD) was –4.36 (95% CI = –7.49~–1.24, p < 0.01), respectively. The postoperative cIMT of CoA patients was higher than that of the control group, but the postoperative FMD was lower than that of the control group. Conclusions: The operation on CoA patients ameliorates anatomical deformity in the vascular structures. However, intima-media thickening and endothelial malfunction remain as the key postoperative issues.