Does Tranexamic Acid reduce mortality in adult patients with Sepsis?

Report By: Jon Bailey - Academic Clinical Fellow in Emergency Medicine
Institution: Thames Valley LETB
Date Submitted: 25th October 2016
Last Modified: 25th October 2016
Status: Blue (submitted but not checked)

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
("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])

Search 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.

Comment(s)

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

Clinical Bottom Line

This is an evidence free zone.