The role of Tranexamic acid in reducing the need for intraoperative and postoperative blood transfusion in patients undergoing arthroplasty for osteoarthritis

Intraoperative blood loss and postoperative anaemia in patients undergoing arthroplasty of the hip and knee increase patient's morbidity and mortality. This increases the need for postoperative transfusion of blood products. Though mechanical methods like using tourniquet reduce the intraoperative blood loss, postoperative loss and resulting anaemia cannot be prevented. Our aim was to establish that the use of low dose tranexamic acid Intravenously and Topically in these patients reduce the total blood loss in these patients and hence the need for postoperative blood transfusion and associated complications of anaemia. Our study conducted in SRIHER between 2018-2020 prospectively, included an analysis of 84 patient's undergoing arthroplasty of the hip and knee. All patients included were above 55 years undergoing arthroplasty for hip and knee for osteoarthritis. Patients with h/o stroke, cardiac stents and chronic liver and renal diseases were excluded. Intravenous Tranexamic acid 1gm was given to all patients an hour before surgery as an infusion in normal saline along with tranexamic acid 500mg injected through the drain after closure. The average blood loss was 480ml intraoperatively and the average drain volume was 140ml. Only 14 patients (16.6%) had postoperative anaemia and required transfusion of allogenic blood. The mean postoperative haemoglobin in these patients was 12.2gm/dl. Our study indicates that low dose intravenous and topical Tranexamic acid significantly reduces the intraoperative and postoperative blood loss and resulting anaemia. This effectively reduces the need for postoperative blood transfusion and associated complications.