Data Extraction and Critical Appraisal
All titles and abstracts were reviewed by two independent reviewers. All
full-texts met inclusion criteria were reviewed, and required data were
also extracted. The extraction of data was performed by two independent
reviewers, and if necessary, a third one was consulted. Data consisted
of baseline characteristics, procedural features, and patients’ outcomes
during follow-up period. The extracted factors related to the
coagulopathy included the number of patients with postoperative
bleeding, the number of patients undergoing reoperation for
postoperative bleeding, and the amount of blood products transfusion
(i.e., packed blood cells and fresh frozen plasma). The volume of
transfused blood products was calculated as milliliter reported by
studies, and each of packed cells was considered as 250 ml. The length
of stent deployed in the descending aorta was categorized into two
groups (less than or equals to 10 cm or more than 10 cm).
The mean length of stent reported by studies was applied for
categorization. The type of surgery was also defined as elective or
non-elective (i.e., emergency/urgent) so that studies with all patients
undergoing elective or non-elective operations were identified, and
those with a mixture of elective and non-elective operations did not
enter into this categorization. In addition, we divided patients into
groups by the stent type (i.e., Thoraflex Hybrid, E-vita, Frozenix, and
Cronus) and the gender predominance among studies (we categorized into
two groups based on the median of male percentage, ≤74% versus
>74%). In all steps of systematic review, the Preferred
Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA)
guidelines were used.2