Role of tranexamic acid in blood loss control and blood transfusion management of patients undergoing multilevel spine surgery: A meta-analysis

Department of Orthopedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, PR China.

Medicine. 2021;100(7):e24678
Abstract
BACKGROUND This study aimed to explore the role of tranexamic acid (TXA) in blood loss control and blood transfusion management of patients undergoing multilevel spine surgery. METHODS In this meta-analysis, a comprehensive search of literatures was performed from PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science from inception to June 23rd, 2020. Weighed mean difference (WMD) was used as the effect size for measurement data, and risk ratio for enumeration data. Publication bias was assessed by Begg test. RESULTS Totally 23 studies (11 randomized controlled trials and 12 cohort studies) involving 1621 participants were enrolled in this meta-analysis. The results showed that the administration of TXA can significantly decrease the intraoperative [WMD: -215.655, 95%CI: (-307.462, -123.847), P < .001], postoperative [WMD: -69.213, 95%CI: (-104.443, -33.983), P = .001] and total [WMD: -284.388, 95%CI: (-437.66, -131.116), P < .001] volumes of blood loss of patients undergoing multilevel spine surgery. It can also significantly reduce the intraoperative [WMD: -333.775, 95%CI: (-540.45, -127.099), P = .002] and postoperative [WMD: -114.661, 95%CI: (-219.58, -9.742), P = .032] volumes of transfusion. In addition, TXA was found to significantly increase the preoperative [WMD: 0.213, 95%CI: (0.037, 0.389), P = .018] and postoperative [WMD: 0.433, 95%CI: (0.244, 0.622), P < .001] hemoglobin levels as well as the preoperative platelet count [WMD: 14.069, 95%CI: (0.122, 28.015), P = .048]. CONCLUSION The administration of TXA can effectively reduce blood loss and transfusion, and improve hemoglobin levels and preoperative platelet count in patients undergoing multilevel spine surgery.
Study details
Study Design : Systematic Review
Language : eng
Credits : Bibliographic data from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine