Prophylactic use of tranexamic acid for prevention of bleeding during transbronchial lung biopsies - A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Efficacy and safety of tranexamic acid in patients undergoing thoracic surgery: a systematic review and PRISMA-compliant meta-analysis

OBJECTIVES

Perioperative bleeding poses a significant issue during thoracic surgery. Tranexamic acid (TXA) is one of the most commonly used antifibrinolytic agents for surgical patients. The purpose of the current study was designed to investigate the efficacy and safety of TXA in patients undergoing thoracic surgery.

METHODS

An extensive search of PubMed, Web of Science (WOS), Cochrane Library (trials), Embase, OVID, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang, and VIP electronic databases was performed to identify studies published between the inception of these databases and March 2023. The primary outcomes included perioperative blood loss and blood transfusions. Secondary outcomes of interest included the length of stay (LOS) in hospital and the incidence of thromboembolic events. Weighted mean differences (WMDs) or odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used to determine treatment effects for continuous and dichotomous variables, respectively.

RESULTS

Five qualified studies including 307 thoracic surgical patients were included in the current study. Among them, 65 patients were randomly allocated to the group receiving TXA administration (the TXA group); the other 142 patients were assigned to the group not receiving TXA administration (the control group). TXA significantly reduced the quantity of hemorrhage in the postoperative period (postoperative 12h: WMD = -81.90 ml; 95% CI: -139.55 to -24.26; P = 0.005; postoperative 24h: WMD = -97.44 ml; 95% CI: -121.44 to -73.44; P< 0.00001); The intraoperative blood transfusion volume (WMD = -0.54 units; 95% CI: -1.06 to -0.03; P = 0.04); LOS in hospital (WMD = -0.6 days; 95% CI: -1.04 to -0.16; P = 0.008); And there was no postoperative thromboembolic event reported in the included studies.

CONCLUSIONS

The present study demonstrated that TXA significantly decreased blood loss within 12 and 24 hours postoperatively. A qualitative review did not identify elevated risks of safety outcomes such as thromboembolic events. It also suggested that TXA administration was associated with shorter LOS in hospital as compared to control. To validate this further, additional well-planned and adequately powered randomized studies are necessary.

Prophylactic epinephrine attenuates severe bleeding in lung transplantation patients undergoing transbronchial lung biopsy: Results of the PROPHET randomized trial

BACKGROUND

Severe hemorrhage is an uncommon yet potentially life-threatening complication of transbronchial lung biopsy. Lung transplantation recipients undergo multiple bronchoscopies with biopsy and are considered to be at an increased risk for bleeding from transbronchial biopsy, independent of traditional risk factors. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of endobronchial administration of prophylactic topical epinephrine in attenuating transbronchial biopsy-related hemorrhage in lung transplant recipients.

METHODS

The Prophylactic Epinephrine for the Prevention of Transbronchial Lung Biopsy-related Bleeding in Lung Transplant Recipients study was a 2-center, randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Participants undergoing transbronchial lung biopsy were randomized to receive 1:10,000-diluted topical epinephrine vs saline placebo administered prophylactically into the target segmental airway. Bleeding was graded based on a clinical severity scale. The primary efficacy outcome was incidence of severe or very severe hemorrhage. The primary safety outcome was a composite of 3-hours all-cause mortality and an acute cardiovascular event.

RESULTS

A total of 66 lung transplantation recipients underwent 100 bronchoscopies during the study period. The primary outcome of severe or very severe hemorrhage occurred in 4 cases (8%) in the prophylactic epinephrine group and in 13 cases (24%) in the control group (p = 0.04). The composite primary safety outcome did not occur in any of the study groups.

CONCLUSIONS

In lung transplantation recipients undergoing transbronchial lung biopsy, prophylactic administration of 1:10,000-diluted topical epinephrine into the target segmental airway before biopsy attenuates the incidence of significant endobronchial hemorrhage without conveying a significant cardiovascular risk. (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03126968).

Hemorrhages in polycythemia vera and essential thrombocythemia: epidemiology, description, and risk factors, learnings from a large cohort

BACKGROUND

The management of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) is based on the reduction of thrombosis risk. The incidence, impact, and risk factors of bleedings have been less studied.

METHOD

All patients with polycythemia vera (n=339) or essential thrombocythemia (n=528) treated in our center are included in OBENE cohort (NCT02897297). Major bleeding (MB) and clinically relevant non-major bleeding (CRNMB) occurring after diagnosis were included, except after leukemic transformation.

RESULTS

With a median follow-up of 8.3 years, incidence of hemorrhages was 1.85% patient/year, with an incidence of MB of 0.95% patient/year. The 10-year bleeding-free survival was 89%. The most frequent locations were digestive tractus, "mouth, nose and throat" and muscular hematoma. The case fatality rate of MB was 25%. The proportion of potentially avoidable iatrogenic bleeding was remarkable (17.6%). In multivariable analysis, eight risk factors of bleeding were identified: leukocytes >20 giga/l at diagnosis (HR=5.13 95%CI [1.77;14.86]), secondary hemopathies (HR=2.99 95%CI [1.27;7.04]), aspirin use at diagnosis (HR=2.11 95%CI [1.24;3.6]), platelet count >1000 giga/l at diagnosis (HR=1.93, 95%CI [1.11;3.36]), history of hemorrhage (HR=1.82 95%CI [1.03;3.24]), secondary cancers (HR=1.71 95%CI [1.01;2.89]), atrial fibrillation (HR=1.66, 95%CI [1.01;2.72]) and male gender (HR=1.54, 95%CI [1.02-2.33]). The majority of patients taking hydroxyurea displayed a non-macrocytic median corpuscular value in the months preceding bleeding (51.4%).

DISCUSSION

The morbidity and mortality of bleedings in MPN should not be underestimated, and some patients could beneficiate from cytoreduction in order to reducing bleeding risk. Iatrogenic bleedings represent a substantial proportion of bleeding and could be better prevented.