Haleema Shakur, Ian Roberts, Raúl Bautista, José Caballero, Tim Coats, Yashbir Dewan, Hesham El-Sayed, Tamar Gogichaishvili, Sanjay Gupta, Jorge Herrera, Beverley Hunt, Pius Iribhogbe, Mario Izurieta, Hussein Khamis, Edward Komolafe, María-Acelia Marrero, Jorge Mejía-Mantilla, Jaime Miranda, Carlos Morales, Oluwole Olaomi, Fatos Olldashi, Pablo Perel, Richard Peto, P V Ramana, R R Ravi, Surakrant Yutthakasemsunt
BACKGROUND: Tranexamic acid can reduce bleeding in patients undergoing elective surgery. We assessed the effects of early administration of a short course of tranexamic acid on death, vascular occlusive events, and the receipt of blood transfusion in trauma patients. METHODS: This randomised controlled trial was undertaken in 274 hospitals in 40 countries. 20 211 adult trauma patients with, or at risk of, significant bleeding were randomly assigned within 8 h of injury to either tranexamic acid (loading dose 1 g over 10 min then infusion of 1 g over 8 h) or matching placebo...
July 3, 2010: Lancet