Short-term outcomes of colorectal cancer surgery in patients with dialysis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Purpose: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the effect of dialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease (CKD) on postoperative complications in colorectal cancer surgery.

Methods: In April 2023, we systematically searched PubMed, the Cochrane library, and Ovid for relevant studies on short-term outcomes of colorectal cancer surgery in patients with dialysis and analyzed the findings from these studies for meta-analysis.

Results: Our systematic and meta-analysis review identified seven studies involving 50713 patients. We showed that the dialysis group had higher rates of mortality (OR = 4.12, 95%CI: 2.75-6.20, P < 0.001), cardiac complications (OR = 2.45, 95%CI: 1.88-3.21, P < 0.001), and pneumonia (OR = 2.68, 95%CI: 1.83-3.93, P < 0.001). On the other hand, there were no differences in superficial/deep surgical site infection (SSI) (odds ratio [OR] = 1.17, 95%CI: 0.90-1.53, P = 0.230) and organ/space SSI (OR = 1.35, 95%CI: 1.00-1.82, P = 0.053) between the dialysis group and non-dialysis group.

Conclusion: Our meta-analysis showed that dialysis-dependent CKD was associated with higher rates of mortality, cardiac complications, and pneumonia after colorectal cancer surgery. However, the limitations of this meta-analysis should be taken into consideration when interpreting the results.