Does Tranexamic Acid reduce mortality in adult patients with Sepsis?

Date First Published:

October 25, 2016

Last Updated:

October 25, 2016

Report by:

Jon Bailey, Academic Clinical Fellow in Emergency Medicine (Thames Valley LETB)

Three-Part Question:

In [adults with sepsis] does [tranexamic acid] reduce [mortality]

Clinical Scenario:

A 52 year old gentleman presents to the emergency department with tacchypnoia and confusion, and is found to be tacchycardic, pyrexial, and hypotensive. You recognise that he is septic, and wonder if the addition to tranexamic acid to standard care might improve his risk of death?

Search Strategy:

Medline 1966-09/2016 using the Pubmed interface

Search Details:

("sepsis"[MeSH Terms] OR "sepsis"[All Fields]) AND (("tranexamic acid"[MeSH Terms] OR ("tranexamic"[All Fields] AND "acid"[All Fields]) OR "tranexamic acid"[All Fields]) OR TXA[All Fields]) AND ("mortality"[Subheading] OR "mortality"[All Fields] OR "mortality"[MeSH Terms])

Outcome:

The search identified 8 papers, of which only 1 addressed the three part question. This paper was in a murine model, and cannot be applied to humans.

Author Commentary:

There were no papers found that address the question in humans.

Bottom Line:

This is an evidence free zone.