The addition of oral Tranexamic acid to knee arthroplasty patients does not further improve blood loss: a double blinded randomized control trial

Abstract

Perioperative intravenous (IV) TA has become routine in knee and hip arthroplasty. Less evidence exists on the administration of oral TA in the post- operative period. Our study aims to identify the efficacy and safety of combined perioperative IV and post-operative oral TA on blood loss and Hemoglobin (Hb) drop compared to perioperative IV TA alone. Patients undergoing primary elective knee arthro- plasty at our institution were invited to participate in the study (n=50). A computer-generated randomisation sequence was created online (www.randomization. org), with an allocation ratio of 1:1 and a block size of 50. Group A received perioperative IV TA alone and post-operative oral TA (n= 26) and Group B received perioperative IV TA plus 48 hours additional oral placebo (n= 24). Day 3 total blood loss and Hb drop was calculated. Continuous, normally distributed data (total blood loss) was compared utilising using one-way analysis of variance with post hoc Tukey test. Continuous skewed data (Hb drop) was compared using the Kruskal-Wallis test. P <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Group A demonstrated a trend in decreased total blood loss that was close to statistical significance ( p = 0.072). No difference in Hb drop was identified between the 2 groups. Increased nausea was also observed in Group A. The administration of oral TA to post-operative knee arthroplasty patients does not improve further blood loss compared to patients receiving perioperative IV TA pre-operatively and at wound closure.