Online only table 3.Bibliometric details of included studies.

Population / Drug/technique / First author / Citations in Google Scholar / Citations in Institute for Scientific Indexing / Citations in Scopus / 2007 Impact factor
Any surgery / Alpha-2 adrenergic agonists / Stevens RD (A) / 9 / 2 / 3 / 2,3
Wijeysundera DN (A) / 6 / 2 / 4 / 2,3
Antifungal prophylaxis / Cruciani M / 0 / 0 / 0 / 5,2
Aprotinin / Munoz JJ (A) / 437 / 194 / 273 / 6,6
Atrial natriuretic peptide / Nigwekar SU (B) / 5 / 5 / 5 / 6,3
Beta-blockers / McGory ML / 4 / 3 / 2 / 5,2
Wiesbauer F / 90 / 42 / 54 / 4,3
Cell salvage and alternative methods of minimising perioperative allogeneic blood transfusion / Davies L / 59 / 32 / 36 / 1,8
Desmopressin / Lapaucis A (B) / 47 / 29 / 30 / 4,3
Dexmedetomidine / Biccard BM (A) / 0 / 40 / 59 / 1
Dopexamine / Pearse RM / 178 / 88 / 125 / 2,6
Epidural analgesia / Beattie WS (A) / 69 / 34 / 50 / 2,6
Epidural or spinal anesthesia / Rodger A / 45 / 23 / 33 / 5
Epsilon amino-caproic acid / Munoz JJ (C) / 142 / 86 / 109 / 14,6
Fenoldopam / Landoni G (A) / 2 / 0 / 0 / 2
Fluconazole / Ho KM (B) / 72 / 28 / 40 / 3,4
Immunonutrition / Heyland DK (B) / 52 / 26 / 36 / 2,6
Insulin / Gandhi GY / 21 / 12 / 16 / 5
Intervention for protecting renal function / Zacharias M / 219 / 167 / 204 / 2,6
Low molecular weight heparin / Mismetti P / 9 / 6 / 5 / 2,2
N-acetylcysteine / Ho KM (A) / 10 / 9 / 9 / 6,3
Recombinant activated factor VII / Ranucci M / 249 / 140 / 54 / 2,6
Specialized nutrition support / Waitzbeg DL / 908 / 396 / 629 / 12,8
Statin / Hindler K / 142 / 86 / 109 / 14,6
Kapoor AS / 19 / 9 / 11 / 1
Tight glucose control / Wiener RS / 7 / 2 / 2 / 4,8
Tranexamic acid / Lapaucis A (C) / 0 / 289 / 401 / 31,7
Abdominal surgery / Enteral nutrition / Lewis SJ / 0 / 8 / 8 / 4,8
Mazaki T / 0 / 1 / 0 / 5,2
Erythropoeitin / Devon KM / 268 / 161 / 198 / 4,9
Glutamine / Novak F / 12 / 10 / 11 / 4,5
Low molecular weight heparin / Bottaro FJ / 21 / 13 / 11 / 4,3
Rasmussen MS / 30 / 21 / 19 / 2,6
Mechanical bowel preparation / Bucher P / 100 / 55 / 63 / 5,1
Wille-Jorgensen P / 68 / 35 / 45 / 11,4
Somatostatin / Connor S / 133 / 83 / 95 / 31,7
Total parenteral nutrition / Heyland DK (A) / 219 / 167 / 204 / 2,6
Cardiac surgery / Aprotinin / Brown JR (A) / 98 / 67 / 76 / 14,6
Desmopressin / Levi M (B) / 0 / 203 / 260 / 28,4
Epsilon amino-caproic acid / Brown JR (C) / 98 / 67 / 76 / 14,6
Henry D (B) / 9 / 3 / 8 / 7,5
Lysine analogues / Levi M (C) / 0 / 203 / 260 / 28,4
Tranexamic acid / Brown JR (D) / 98 / 67 / 76 / 14,6
Henry D (C) / 9 / 3 / 8 / 7,5
Cardiovascular surgery / Acadesine / Mangano DT / 86 / 74 / 78 / 31,7
Amiodarone / Aasbo JD / 50 / 27 / 34 / 17,5
Antiarrhythmic therapy / Zimmer J / 49 / 31 / 33 / 3,9
Antiplatelet agents / Brown J / 0 / 0 / 0 / 5,2
Engelter S / 0 / 0 / 3 / 5,2
Tangelder MJ / 56 / 42 / 47 / 3,8
Aprotinin / Brown JR (B) / 98 / 67 / 76 / 14,6
Henry D (A) / 9 / 3 / 8 / 7,5
Lapaucis A (A) / 219 / 167 / 204 / 2,6
Levi M (A) / 0 / 203 / 260 / 28,4
Munoz JJ (B) / 142 / 86 / 109 / 14,6
Sedrakyan A (A) / 23 / 9 / 14 / 0,8
Sun JC / 9 / 4 / 6 / 8,9
Calcium channel blockers / Wijeysundera DN (C) / 196 / 93 / 122 / 5,1
Chlorhexidine / Chlebicki MP / 48 / 27 / 41 / 6,3
Desflurane and sevoflurane / Landoni G (B) / 52 / 29 / 39 / 4,8
Desmopressin / Crescenzi G / 1 / 3 / 3 / 4,6
Early extubation / Hawkes CA / 33 / 0 / 0 / 5,2
Epidural analgesia / Nishimory M / 0 / 7 / 9 / 5,2
Fenoldopam / Landoni G (C) / 40 / 25 / 30 / 1
Heparin-bonded circuits / Mangoush O / 15 / 9 / 11 / 2,1
Hypothermia / Rees K / 25 / 0 / 6 / 5,2
Local anaesthesia / Rerkasem K / 0 / 2 / 4 / 5,2
Magnesium / Miller S / 49 / 28 / 37 / 5
Shiga T / 45 / 23 / 31 / 5,1
N-acetylcysteine / Baker WL / 2 / 0 / 0 / 2,2
Naughton F / 3 / 0 / 0 / 2,1
Nigwekar SU (A) / 1 / 0 / 0 / 1
Natriuretic Peptide / Nigwekar SU (C) / 2 / 1 / 2 / 1
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents / Bainbridge D (A) / 12 / 5 / 7 / 2,1
Patient-controlled analgesia / Bainbridge D (B) / 5 / 5 / 6 / 2,1
Pexelizumab / Mahaffey KW / 17 / 20 / 17 / 4,3
Testa L / 6 / 4 / 3 / 4,2
Pulmonary artery catheterization / Barone JE / 31 / 17 / 19 / 3
Pulsatile cardiopulmonary bypass / Alghamdi AA / 5 / 4 / 7 / 1
Recombinant activated factor VII / Zangrillo A / 2 / 1 / 0 / 1
Statin / Liakopoulus OJ / 31 / 21 / 20 / 8,9
Vitamin K antagonists / Dorffler-Melly J / 42 / 0 / 9 / 5,2
Volatile anesthetics / Symons JA / 34 / 26 / 29 / 2,9
Yu CH / 25 / 17 / 20 / 2,1
Neurosurgery / Antibiotics / Ratilal B / 18 / 2 / 12 / 5,2
Non-cardiovascular surgery / Beta-blockers / Bangalore S / 49 / 28 / 27 / 28,6
Beattie WS (B) / 35 / 14 / 17 / 2,6
Biccard BM (B) / 17 / 13 / 15 / 11,4
Deveraux PJ / 246 / 144 / 184 / 11,4
Schouten O / 40 / 17 / 25 / 3,5
Stevens RD (B) / 178 / 88 / 125 / 2,6
Calcium channel blockers / Wijeysundera DN (B) / 24 / 18 / 23 / 11,4
Orthopedic surgery / Regional anesthesia / Parker MJ / 0 / 0 / 3 / 5,2
Urwin SC / 126 / 54 / 88 / 2,9
Surgery for head and neck cancer / Immunonutrition / Stableforth WD / 2 / 1 / 0 / 1,5
Thoracic surgery / Beta-blockers / Sedrakyan A (B) / 23 / 9 / 14 / 0,8
Calcium channel blockers / Sedrakyan A (C) / 215 / 136 / 167 / 0,8