An Evaluation of the Use of Topical Tranexamic Acid in Total Knee Arthroplasty
Section snippets
Methods
After obtaining institutional review board approval, we retrospectively reviewed the charts of 683 primary total knee arthroplasty cases. We compared 373 cases performed in 2010 without the application of tranexamic acid to 310 cases performed in 2011 with the application of tranexamic acid. We excluded revisions, unicompartmental knee replacements, cases involving tumor, fracture, or hardware removal, and cases where enoxaparin was used for DVT prophylaxis. (Warfarin use is our routine and
Results
Of the 683 total cases 606 were unilateral and 77 were bilateral, for a total of 760 total knee arthroplasties (please see Table 1). There were no differences between the groups as far as age, gender, height or weight. In the non-tranexamic acid group, the mean age was 68.3 years, 67.8% were females, mean height was 1.67 meters and mean weight was 94.7 kg. In the tranexamic acid group the mean age was 68.1 years, 63.2% were females. The mean height was 1.68 meters and the mean weight was 92.9
Discussion
Tranexamic acid has been used in an effort to decrease the incidence of blood transfusion, due to the associated cost and morbidity. Application can be either intravenous or as a topical agent applied to the intra-articular surfaces at the time of wound closure. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of topical tranexamic acid from a clinical and economic standpoint.
The main weakness of this study is the retrospective nature. We may have missed potential complications if the patients
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The Conflict of Interest statement associated with this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.arth.2013.06.037.