Kietpeerakool, C., Supoken, A., Laopaiboon, M., & Lumbiganon, P. (2016). Effectiveness of tranexamic acid in reducing blood loss during cytoreductive surgery for advanced ovarian cancer. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2016, CD011732.

DOI Link

Purpose

STUDY PURPOSE: To assess the effects of tranexamic acid for reducing blood loss in women undergoing surgery for advanced ovarian cancer

TYPE OF STUDY: Systematic review

Search Strategy

DATABASES USED: Cochrane Collaboration Medline, EMBASE, several online resources, and handsearching from conferences and citations

KEYWORDS: Detailed search terms per database are provided.

INCLUSION CRITERIA: RCT, comparison of tanexamic acid compared to placebo or no treatment

Literature Evaluated

TOTAL REFERENCES RETRIEVED = 18

EVALUATION METHOD AND COMMENTS ON LITERATURE USED: Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews was used to identify risk of bias.

Sample Characteristics

FINAL NUMBER STUDIES INCLUDED = 1

TOTAL PATIENTS INCLUDED IN REVIEW = 100

Phase of Care and Clinical Applications

PHASE OF CARE: Active antitumor treatment

Results

Preoperative tranexamic acid was associated with reduced loss of blood compared to placebo; however, the difference from placebo was not statistically significant, and the difference seen did not demonstrate a clearly clinically important benefit (mean difference = -248.59, 95% CI [-550.9, 53.79]). Average number of RBC units were not different between groups, although the rate of RBC transfusion was lower in those given tranexamic acid.

Conclusions

Evidence regarding the effectiveness of tranexamic acid from this review is inconclusive because only one study was found and reviewed.

Limitations

Single study in the review
Risk of bias related to most of the evaluated outcomes was deemed high, and the overall quality of evidence was low.

Nursing Implications

This review provided no new information to evaluate efficacy of tranexamic acid for prevention of bleeding.

Legacy ID

5763