By Casey Tingle
LAS VEGAS — Among patients who underwent either total knee or total hip replacement, intraoperative use of tranexamic acid significantly reduced the need for blood transfusion, according to data presented at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting.
Styron and colleagues retrospectively studied data from 883 patients who underwent total hip arthroplasty (THA) or total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The patients were categorized as having been treated before the introduction of a comprehensive preoperative blood management protocol or after the introduction of the protocol. Five hundred fifty-three patients underwent surgery after the protocol, which included intraoperative treatment with TXA, and were compared with the 330 patients who were not treated with TXA intraoperatively. 
The effects of the preoperative blood management protocol, treatment and TXA administration on patient outcomes were examined. In patients with a hemoglobin level of 13 g/dL or less, the researchers examined patients’ medical history and lab reports.