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Antifibrinolytic drugs and perioperative hemostasis
Author(s) -
Slaughter Thomas F.,
Greenberg Charles S.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
american journal of hematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.456
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1096-8652
pISSN - 0361-8609
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1096-8652(199709)56:1<32::aid-ajh7>3.0.co;2-3
Subject(s) - hemostasis , medicine , antifibrinolytic , perioperative , intensive care medicine , pharmacology , anesthesia , tranexamic acid , surgery , blood loss
Although excessive bleeding is widely recognized as a common complication of cardiac surgery, the recent success of antifibrinolytic drugs as prophylactic hemostatic agents has received little attention outside the surgical literature. The etiology of the coagulopathy following cardiac surgery is clearly multifactorial; however, the success of antifibrinolytic drugs as hemostatic agents suggests that fibrinolysis contributes to bleeding in this setting. Increasingly widespread administration of these drugs necessitates increased awareness of the risks and benefits posed by perioperative antifibrinolytic therapy. The objectives of this review are to understand the mechanisms of action of antifibrinolytic drugs in the context of the normal hemostatic response and to review evidence pertaining to the efficacy and safety of antifibrinolytic drugs as hemostatic agents during cardiac surgery. Am. J. Hematol. 56:32–36, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.