Randomized Control Trial for Oral Extended Tranexamic Acid After Total Knee Arthroplasty

Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA) is the treatment for end-stage osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis stands as one of the prevailing chronic health issues globally. Specifically, knee osteoarthritis represents the predominant form of osteoarthritis in more than half of those diagnosed with the condition. With the aging population, there's a projected exponential rise in the annual TKA procedures performed. The ultimate goals of TKA are to improve mobility and quality of life. However, the benefits of TKA come with risks of surgery. According to the American Joint Replacement Registry, 1% of patients experienced at least one complication within 90 days after their surgery. Many efforts have been made to reduce the rate of complications following TKA. Reducing perioperative blood loss and thus reducing the need for postoperative blood transfusion is critical to ensure positive outcomes for TKA patients. Traditionally, preoperative iron therapy, erythropoietin, and autologous blood donation are mitigation strategies used to decrease the need for blood transfusion. In recent years, the intraoperative use of antifibrinolytic medication, such as Tranexamic Acid (TXA), to control blood loss and improve clinical outcomes has gained increased attention.

The utilization of intraoperative tranexamic acid (TXA), whether administered intravenously or orally, has become a standard practice in total joint arthroplasty (TJA). Multiple studies have demonstrated the positive impact that TXA application has on clinical outcomes, including decreased blood loss and transfusion rates, decreased early swelling and ecchymosis, improved early recovery, and potentially superior long-term outcomes. Its ability to mitigate risk of blood loss made ambulatory TKA safer for patients.

The safety of intraoperative TXA use has also been documented. Sabbag et al. showed that TXA does not increase the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), even in those patients who are deemed high-risk. Multiple routes of TXA administration have been studied with each route demonstrating effectiveness in reducing blood loss. Findings showed that oral TXA is noninferior to intravenous TXA, though the median time to reach a target concentration is longer via the oral route and bioavailability is lower.

With the benefits of intraoperative TXA clearly documented in literature, multiple centers investigated the utilization of extended TXA postoperatively in hopes of enhancing patient safety and reducing length of stay and healthcare cost. However, these studies reported conflicting outcomes and mostly focused on estimated blood loss, instead of patient-reported outcomes.