ObjectiveTo compare the clinical effects of two commonly used organ preservation solutions University of Wisconsin (UW) solution and histidine-tryptophan-ketoglutarate (HTK) solution in liver transplantation.MethodsThe PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, CNKI, CBM, VIP, and Wanfang Data were searched to collect the comparative studies of the UW solution and HTK solution in the liver transplantation. The data were extracted and evaluated by the RevMan 5.3 software.ResultsFinally, 16 articles with a total of 35 024 patients were included. The meta-analysis results showed that the HTK solution group had a lower incidence of postoperative biliary complications [RR=1.30, 95%CI (1.07 1.58), P=0.008] and lower aspartate aminotransferase peak level within 7 d after operation [MD=112.45, 95%CI (93.34, 131.56), P<0.01] as compared with the UW solution group. No significant differences were found in terms of the incidence of primary non-function [RR=1.07, 95%CI (0.52, 2.18), P=0.86], survival rates of patient and graft in different time points (P>0.05), incidence of retransplantation [RR=0.83, 95%CI (0.48, 1.45), P=0.51], incidence of acute rejection [RR=1.27, 95%CI (0.96, 1.68), P=0.33], alanine aminotransferase peak level within 7 d [MD=31.79, 95%CI (–161.84, 225.42), P=0.75] after operation, total bilirubin [MD=19.42, 95%CI (–10.83, 49.67), P=0.21], and prothrombin time [MD=1.75, 95%CI (0.01, 3.49), P=0.84] between these two groups.ConclusionsHTK solution is safe and effective for liver transplantation, and has similar effects as UW solution. Regarding effect of both on long-term survival rates of patient and graft, large-sample and high-quality RCT is still needed for systematic evaluation.