This is a Study to Verify if Tranexamic Acid Can Reduce the Anemia After a Femoral Shaft Fractures Surgery

Femoral Shaft Fracture Clinical Trial

— ORL-ORT-023  

Official title:

Efficacy of Tranexamic Acid in Femoral Shaft Fractures Osteosynthesis; A Double Blind Randomized Controlled Trial

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Withdrawn

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT04803591
• Other study ID #: ORL - ORT - 023
• Status: Withdrawn
• Phase: Phase 4
• Start date: August 1, 2021
• Est. completion date: September 1, 2026

Study information

• Verified date: October 2021
• Source: Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale, Bellinzona
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The investigators are going to evaluate if adding Tranexamic Acid in femoral shaft fractures surgery can lead to any advantages to the participants, namely if it can reduce post-operative anaemia, blood loss, blood transfusion requirements, length and cost of hospitalisation.

Description:

Lower limb procedures represent the majority of orthopaedic surgeries, including joint arthroplasties, sport medicine treatments, and fractures osteo-synthesis, with a rate over 500 per 100,000 population every year, increasing. Albeit being successful procedures routinely performed in the clinical practice, they are frequently encumbered by complications. In particular, femur fractures are common and frequently result in considerable blood loss, ranging from 900 to 1,500 ml, which exposes patients to postoperative anaemia and reduced functional recovery. Allogenic blood transfusions are financial burden, and, even more, they are associated with an unneglectable risk of serious complications, including infection, immuno-suppression, cardiovascular dysfunction, resulting in potentially life-threatening effects on patients. Various strategies have been attempted to minimize blood loss and the need for blood transfusion, and to this aim the use of hemostatic agents, in particular of tranexamic acid (TXA), has recently widely increased in orthopaedic lower limb surgery.

TXA is a synthetic anti-fibrinolytic agent that competitively blocks the lysine binding sites on plasminogen, thereby slowing the conversion of plasminogen to plasmin, thus preventing fibrin clot degradation. A large amount of randomized controlled trials and meta-analysis converge in showing that TXA, applied either through systemic or local administration, is effective in reducing blood loss and subsequent transfusions in lower limb fractures surgery, especially in hip fracture patients, as well in replacement procedures. However, there are still concerns about the risk of increasing venous thromboembolic (VTE) complications, such as deep venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolisms; overall, the scientific high-level literature evidence supports the safety of TXA for the different orthopaedic applications.

This is a 2-arm study aimed at comparing the Tranexamic Acid supplementation protocol and evaluating his advantages over routine protocols. The primary objective will be the effect on postoperative anaemia, detected by serial measurements of haemoglobin, of TXA supplementation for femoral shaft fractures surgery. The secondary objectives of the study will be the comparison between I.V. peri-operative TXA supplementation and normal protocol without TXA in terms of post-operative anaemia (detected by serial haematocrit measurements), intra-operative blood loss, post-operative blood loss, total blood loss (evaluated using the Hb balance formula, estimated blood loss, blood transfusion requirements, length of hospitalisation, cost-effectiveness and frequency of adverse events. In particular the study aims to assess safety of TXA and its tolerability in terms of incidence of venous thromboembolic complications, such as deep venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolisms, wound infection, and death. The safety of TXA supplementation protocol will be verified comparing to the no-treatment group in terms of incidence of complications, such as deep venous thrombosis (based on the Homan sign and Mose sign and confirmed by compression ultrasonography upon clinical suspicion), Pulmonary embolism (confirmed by spiral computed tomography), cerebrovascular accident (confirmed by computed tomographic scan or magnetic resonance imaging), and acute coronary syndrome or myocardial infarction (confirmed by troponin I estimation and electrocardiogram changes), infection, and death. This randomized control trial will thus define if the peri-operative protocol should be implemented with tranexamic acid to reduce post-operative anaemia and blood loss and the rate of blood transfusion leading to a better cost effectiveness, without an increase in adverse events.

The study presents only minimal risks for the included patients.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Withdrawn
• Enrollment: 0
• Est. completion date: September 1, 2026
• Est. primary completion date: September 1, 2026
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years to 80 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Acute femoral shaft fracture.

• Patients treated surgically with intramedullary nail or femoral plate

• Patients aged 18-80 years old.

• Patients with a BMI >18.5 and <35.

• Patients able to provide informed consent and follow all the study procedures as indicated by the protocol.

• Informed Consent as documented by signature

Exclusion Criteria:

• Pathological fracture or other lower limb fractures associated or multiple fractures.

• Use of any anticoagulant at the time of admission (eg, vitamin K antagonists, anti-thrombin agents, antiplatelet agents or factor IIa and Xa inhibitors).

• Contraindications to TXA (eg documented allergy to TXA).

• Hepatic dysfunction (aspartate transaminase (AST)/alanine transaminase (ALT)>60 U/l) or renal dysfunction (Cr >1.5 mg/dl of glomerular filtration rate (GFR)>30 ml/min).

• History of DVT or pulmonary embolus.

• Active coronary artery disease or cerebrovascular accident (event in the past 12 months).

• Coagulopathy based on admission laboratory values (international normalised ratio (INR)>1.4, partial thromboplastin time (PTT)>1.4× normal sec, platelets <50 000 per mm3)

• Women who are pregnant or breast feeding.

• Known or suspected non-compliance, drug or alcohol abuse.

• Inability to follow the procedures of the study, e.g. due to language problems, psychological disorders, dementia, etc. of the participant.

• Participation in another study with investigational drug within the 30 days preceding and during the present study.

• Previous enrolment into the current study.

• Enrolment of the investigator, his/her family members, employees and other dependent persons.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Femoral Fractures
• Femoral Shaft Fracture
• Fractures, Bone

Intervention

Drug:
• Tranexamic Acid
Tranexamic Acid will be administered as an injectable solution (500mg/5ml or 1000mg/10ml).

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
n/a

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Christian Candrian

References & Publications (23)

Barrachina B, Lopez-Picado A, Remon M, Fondarella A, Iriarte I, Bastida R, Rodríguez-Gascón A, Achaerandio MA, Iturricastillo MC, Aizpuru F, Valero CA, Tobalina R, Hernanz R. Tranexamic Acid Compared with Placebo for Reducing Total Blood Loss in Hip Replacement Surgery: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Anesth Analg. 2016 Apr;122(4):986-95. doi: 10.1213/ANE.0000000000001159. — View Citation

Charoencholvanich K, Siriwattanasakul P. Tranexamic acid reduces blood loss and blood transfusion after TKA: a prospective randomized controlled trial. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2011 Oct;469(10):2874-80. doi: 10.1007/s11999-011-1874-2. Epub 2011 Apr 22. — View Citation

Chen S, Wu K, Kong G, Feng W, Deng Z, Wang H. The efficacy of topical tranexamic acid in total hip arthroplasty: a meta-analysis. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2016 Feb 16;17:81. doi: 10.1186/s12891-016-0923-0. Review. — View Citation

Drakos A, Raoulis V, Karatzios K, Doxariotis N, Kontogeorgakos V, Malizos K, Varitimidis SE. Efficacy of Local Administration of Tranexamic Acid for Blood Salvage in Patients Undergoing Intertrochanteric Fracture Surgery. J Orthop Trauma. 2016 Aug;30(8):409-14. doi: 10.1097/BOT.0000000000000577. — View Citation

Good L, Peterson E, Lisander B. Tranexamic acid decreases external blood loss but not hidden blood loss in total knee replacement. Br J Anaesth. 2003 May;90(5):596-9. — View Citation

Gross JB. Estimating allowable blood loss: corrected for dilution. Anesthesiology. 1983 Mar;58(3):277-80. — View Citation

Haghighi M, Ettehad H, Mardani-Kivi M, Mirbolook A, Nabi BN, Moghaddam R, Sedighinejad A, Khanjanian G. Does Tranexamic Acid Reduce Bleeding during Femoral Fracture Operation? Arch Bone Jt Surg. 2017 Mar;5(2):103-108. — View Citation

Jiang W, Shang L. Tranexamic acid can reduce blood loss in patients undergoing intertrochanteric fracture surgery: A meta-analysis. Medicine (Baltimore). 2019 Mar;98(11):e14564. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000014564. Review. — View Citation

Lee C, Porter KM. Prehospital management of lower limb fractures. Emerg Med J. 2005 Sep;22(9):660-3. Review. — View Citation

Lisander B, Ivarsson I, Jacobsson SA. Intraoperative autotransfusion is associated with modest reduction of allogeneic transfusion in prosthetic hip surgery. Acta Anaesthesiol Scand. 1998 Jul;42(6):707-12. — View Citation

Lua J, Tan VH, Sivasubramanian H, Kwek E. Complications of Open Tibial Fracture Management: Risk Factors and Treatment. Malays Orthop J. 2017 Mar;11(1):18-22. doi: 10.5704/MOJ.1703.006. — View Citation

Madjdpour C, Spahn DR. Allogeneic red blood cell transfusions: efficacy, risks, alternatives and indications. Br J Anaesth. 2005 Jul;95(1):33-42. Epub 2004 Oct 14. Review. — View Citation

Maniar RN, Kumar G, Singhi T, Nayak RM, Maniar PR. Most effective regimen of tranexamic acid in knee arthroplasty: a prospective randomized controlled study in 240 patients. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2012 Sep;470(9):2605-12. doi: 10.1007/s11999-012-2310-y. Epub 2012 Mar 15. — View Citation

Moskal JT, Capps SG. Meta-analysis of Intravenous Tranexamic Acid in Primary Total Hip Arthroplasty. Orthopedics. 2016 Sep 1;39(5):e883-92. doi: 10.3928/01477447-20160526-02. Epub 2016 Jun 1. Review. — View Citation

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Nagra NS, van Popta D, Whiteside S, Holt EM. An analysis of postoperative hemoglobin levels in patients with a fractured neck of femur. Acta Orthop Traumatol Turc. 2016 Oct;50(5):507-513. doi: 10.1016/j.aott.2015.11.001. Epub 2016 Oct 15. — View Citation

Neumann MV, Strohm PC, Reising K, Zwingmann J, Hammer TO, Suedkamp NP. Complications after surgical management of distal lower leg fractures. Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med. 2016 Dec 9;24(1):146. — View Citation

Tengberg PT, Foss NB, Palm H, Kallemose T, Troelsen A. Tranexamic acid reduces blood loss in patients with extracapsular fractures of the hip: results of a randomised controlled trial. Bone Joint J. 2016 Jun;98-B(6):747-53. doi: 10.1302/0301-620X.98B6.36645. Erratum in: Bone Joint J. 2016 Dec;98-B(12 ):1711-1712. — View Citation

Vaishya R, Lal H. Three common orthopaedic surgical procedures of the lower limb. J Clin Orthop Trauma. 2018 Apr-Jun;9(2):101-102. doi: 10.1016/j.jcot.2018.04.013. Epub 2018 May 4. — View Citation

Wertheimer A, Olaussen A, Perera S, Liew S, Mitra B. Fractures of the femur and blood transfusions. Injury. 2018 Apr;49(4):846-851. doi: 10.1016/j.injury.2018.03.007. Epub 2018 Mar 7. — View Citation

Xin WQ, Gao YL, Shen J, Yang XY. Intravenous tranexamic acid reduces blood transfusions in revision total hip arthroplasty: a meta-analysis. J Comp Eff Res. 2019 Aug;8(11):917-928. doi: 10.2217/cer-2019-0030. Epub 2019 Aug 22. — View Citation

Yao RZ, Gao WQ, Wang BW, Wang GL, Wu CX, A-Mu YD. Efficacy and Safety of Tranexamic Acid in Reducing Blood Loss of Lower Extremity Osteotomy in Peri-acetabulum and High Tibia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Orthop Surg. 2019 Aug;11(4):545-551. doi: 10.1111/os.12515. — View Citation

Yue C, Kang P, Yang P, Xie J, Pei F. Topical application of tranexamic acid in primary total hip arthroplasty: a randomized double-blind controlled trial. J Arthroplasty. 2014 Dec;29(12):2452-6. doi: 10.1016/j.arth.2014.03.032. Epub 2014 Mar 29. — View Citation

* Note: There are 23 references in all — Click here to view all references

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Postoperative anaemia	Postoperative anaemia detected by daily measurements of haemoglobin in the first 3 days after surgery	3 days after surgery
Secondary	Post-operative anaemia	Post-operative anaemia reported as changes in haemoglobin and haematocrit values during the first 3 days after surgery.	3 days
Secondary	Intra-operative blood loss	This outcome will be documented using a suction apparatus during the procedure. Blood collected in the suction bottle will be measured by subtracting the volume of saline used for wash.	Day 0
Secondary	Post-operative blood loss at during the first 2 days after surgery	This outcome will be documented using postoperative drain outputs. Blood collected in the drain outputs will be measured in milliliter at 24h and 48h	Up to day 2
Secondary	Estimated total blood loss.	This outcome will be documented using Hb balance formula.	Up to day 2
Secondary	Estimated total blood loss.	This outcome will be documented using Gross Formula.	Up to day 2
Secondary	Blood transfusion requirements.	This outcome will be documented in terms of number of patients who required packed red blood cell (PRBC) (transfusion rate) and the mean number of transfusion units per patient during all the length of hospitalization.	Up to day 2
Secondary	Length of hospital stay	Length of hospital stay	Up to week 2
Secondary	Cost effectiveness of the treatment with tranexamic acid.	This outcome will be documented reporting the mean cost per patient as sum of the cost TXA administration (if administered), the transfusion cost per patients, and the cost of hospital stay.	1 week

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