Does Early Administration of Tranexamic Acid Reduce Blood Loss and Perioperative Transfusion Requirement

The use of TXA in orthopedic trauma patients is an area of current research interest. A 2010 prospective randomized, controlled trial of perioperative TXA demonstrated reduction in transfusion requirements for intertrochanteric hip fractures treated with short, cephalomedullary nails. This was clinically, though not statistically, significant. Investigators recently conducted a randomized, controlled trial at this institution to evaluated the use of TXA in patients with femoral neck fractures treated with hemiarthroplasty or total hip arthroplasty and found clinically, albeit not statistically, significant reduction in transfusion requirement (accepted for publication). Perhaps tempering the effect seen with perioperative administration of TXA is the blood loss that occurs prior to surgery, the so-called "hidden" blood loss that can be as substantial as 1/3 of total blood loss from a hip fracture. This raises the question whether administration of tranexamic acid at the time of initial presentation after fracture could improve the perioperative care of these patients by decreasing the proportion of patients requiring transfusion and decreasing total blood loss.