Tranexamic Acid; A Glittering Player in the Field of Trauma

• Main Authors: Fariborz Ghaffarpasand, Hamid Reza Abbasi, Shahram Paydar, Shahram Bolandparvaz, Maryam Dehghankhalili
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shiraz University of Medical Sciences 2020-04-01
• Series: Bulletin of Emergency and Trauma
• Subjects: tranexamic acid; trauma; coagulopathy; antifibrinolytics; hemorrhage
• Online Access: http://beat.sums.ac.ir/article_46443_daf69143d598961c146ce4d5a242a971.pdf

Trauma is still the leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide with an estimated 5.8 million mortalities every year [1] and approximately 60 million traumatic brain injuries (TBI) annually [2]. Hemorrhage remains the most common preventable cause of mortality and morbidity following trauma either in civilian or military settings [3, 4]. Intracranial bleeding following TBI results in increased intracranial pressure (ICP), brain herniation and cerebral edema which are all secondary insults to the brain parenchyma leading to increase disability and mortality [5]. Thus, the development and administration of antifibrinolytic agents have been the focus of traumatic injuries during the previous decades with the hypothesis of hemorrhage cessation and hemostasis with a medical agent rather than a surgical intervention. These efforts resulted in developing several agents and subsequent large multicenter clinical trials to define the best antifibrinolytic agent for prevention of death following TBI.