The Use of Tranexamic Acid for Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding by Medical and Surgical Intensivists: A Single Center Experience

Jason Chertoff, Grant Lowther, Hassan Alnuaimat, Ali Ataya

Abstract


Background: Tranexamic acid (TXA) may be beneficial in the management of upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB). We sought to investigate how frequently intensivists at our academic institution use TXA for patients with UGIB, and to investigate whether the utilization rate of TXA differs between surgical and medical intensivists, and provide an updated literature review on the subject.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of patients admitted for UGIB to the surgical intensive care unit (SICU) and the medical intensive care unit (MICU) at our academic healthcare facility (University of Florida Health - Shands Hospital) from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2016. The patients were categorized as receiving or not receiving TXA. The overall utilization rate of TXA was calculated, and the utilization rates for the MICU and SICU were compared using a two-sample test for equality of two proportions with continuity correction.

Results: The study cohort included a total of 1,829 patients with a diagnosis of UGIB. Of those, 988 were treated in the MICU and 841 were treated in the SICU. Of the 988 patients in the MICU, six received TXA (0.61%), while 10 (1.19%) of the 841 patients in the SICU received TXA. The overall utilization rate of TXA was 0.87%. The odds of receiving TXA in the SICU were 1.97 times greater than in the MICU (odds ratio (OR): 1.97, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.74 - 5.2, P = 1.83).

Conclusions: Our study suggests that TXA may be underused in the management of UGIB, and that the utilization rate does not differ significantly between surgical and medical intensivists.




Gastroenterol Res. 2017;10(4):235-237
doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/gr891w


Keywords


Tranexamic acid; Upper gastrointestinal bleeding; Intensivists

Full Text: HTML PDF
 

Browse  Journals  

 

Journal of Clinical Medicine Research

Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism

Journal of Clinical Gynecology and Obstetrics

 

World Journal of Oncology

Gastroenterology Research

Journal of Hematology

 

Journal of Medical Cases

Journal of Current Surgery

Clinical Infection and Immunity

 

Cardiology Research

World Journal of Nephrology and Urology

Cellular and Molecular Medicine Research

 

Journal of Neurology Research

International Journal of Clinical Pediatrics

 

 
       
 

Gastroenterology Research, bimonthly, ISSN 1918-2805 (print), 1918-2813 (online), published by Elmer Press Inc.                     
The content of this site is intended for health care professionals.

This is an open-access journal distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted
non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Creative Commons Attribution license (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International CC-BY-NC 4.0)


This journal follows the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommendations for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals,
the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines, and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing.

website: www.gastrores.org   editorial contact: editor@gastrores.org    elmer.editorial@hotmail.com
Address: 9225 Leslie Street, Suite 201, Richmond Hill, Ontario, L4B 3H6, Canada

© Elmer Press Inc. All Rights Reserved.


Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in the published articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the editors and Elmer Press Inc. This website is provided for medical research and informational purposes only and does not constitute any medical advice or professional services. The information provided in this journal should not be used for diagnosis and treatment, those seeking medical advice should always consult with a licensed physician.