ClinicalTrials.gg
Status unknownNCT04696224Updated Nov 4, 2022

Comparative Use of Tranexamic Acid Intravenous and Topical Application in Intertrochanteric Fractures With PFNA

An interventional study of Tranexamic acid and Saline solution in Hemorrhage and Fracture Femur, sponsored by Universidade do Vale do Sapucai. Status unknown at 1 site in Brazil. Open to participants aged 60 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2022-11-04.

Sponsored by Universidade do Vale do Sapucai · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

The sponsor has not verified this record recently (last verified Nov 2022), so the status shown — last known as Recruiting — may be out of date.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
90
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
60 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

An intertrochanteric (ITF) trochanteric fracture of the femur is an exclusively extra capsular fracture in which the fracture line extends from the greater trochanter to the lesser trochanter. Its incidence has increased significantly over the past decades and is expected to double in the next 25 years, with an important global economic impact . It affects women in the seventh and eighth decades of life, an age group older than femoral neck fractures. For this reason, the mortality of intertrochanteric fractures is twice that of the femoral neck.

The treatment is surgical, in which the objective is the stable internal fixation and the patient's early ambulation.

Functional outcomes and treatment mortality are related including factors perioperative anemia and blood loss.Even so, even with these precautions, blood loss in this surgical procedure appears to be greater than expected, with blood loss of the order of 2100ml.

Blood loss management and the inherent risks of anemia can be circumvented with blood transfusion. However, blood transfusion is not without risks and complications, such as hypersensitivity and hemolytic reactions, cardiac overload, infectious diseases. Homologous transfusions are associated with prolonged hospital stay, increased costs and increased patient morbidity and mortality.

So, alternatives have been used to avoid the use of blood such as saline solutions, use of erythropoietin and antifibrinolytic agents . Tranexamic acid (TXA) is a drug that interferes with fibrinolysis, in use for more than 50 years in surgery, particularly in cardiac surgery.

Only recently, TXA has sparked interest in orthopedic surgeries. Studies have shown the effectiveness and safety of TXA at FIT, but presented different forms of administration (intravenous, topical, infiltrative) . Despite promising results to contain bleeding in elective orthopedic surgery and fractures, in daily practice, TXA is not very popular, especially in fractures, and has not been used routinely by all doctors. Studies have not been found in the literature about the topical use of TXA compared to intravenous use in FIT.

Read the detailed description

An intertrochanteric (ITF) trochanteric fracture of the femur is an exclusively extra capsular fracture in which the fracture line extends from the greater trochanter to the lesser trochanter. Usually, it is an isolated fracture, related to osteoporosis, which occurs due to low-energy trauma such as a fall during gait. It is the most common fracture of the proximal femur. Its incidence has increased significantly over the past decades and is expected to double in the next 25 years, with an important global economic impact . It affects women in the seventh and eighth decades of life, an age group older than femoral neck fractures. For this reason, the mortality of intertrochanteric fractures is twice that of the femoral neck.

The treatment is surgical, in which the objective is the stable internal fixation and the patient's early ambulation. The most used materials are plates with dynamic compression screws (Dinamic Hip Screw-DHS) and intramedullary nails (specifically cephalomedullary nails or Proximate femoral nail (PFN). Patients who have suffered this fracture are at high risk for cardiovascular, pulmonary, infections and thrombosis. About a third of patients die in the first year after the injury, approximately 50% become incapable of walking alone or climbing stairs and 20% need permanent home care.

Functional outcomes and treatment mortality are related including factors perioperative anemia and blood loss. In order to prevent blood loss, many strategies have been taken, such as closed or percutaneous fracture reduction and surgical approach with minimally invasive techniques such as fixation with short intramedullary nails (PFN). Even so, even with these precautions, blood loss in this surgical procedure appears to be greater than expected, with blood loss of the order of 2100ml. It was also observed that surgeons underestimate the amount of blood lost in the perioperative period, having estimated a median difference of 1473ml between the apparent blood loss and the one that actually occurred with the use of cephalomedullary nails. Blood loss in ITF is greater than in femoral neck fractures and more often requires blood transfusions.

Blood loss management and the inherent risks of anemia can be circumvented with blood transfusion. However, blood transfusion is not without risks and complications, such as hypersensitivity and hemolytic reactions, cardiac overload, infectious diseases. Homologous transfusions are associated with prolonged hospital stay, increased costs and increased patient morbidity and mortality. Some surgeries may need to wait for the blood supply to be replenished and patients in need of phenotyped blood find it even more difficult and may wait days to weeks before finding their proper blood type.

So, alternatives have been used to avoid the use of blood such as saline solutions, use of erythropoietin and antifibrinolytic agents . Tranexamic acid (TXA) is a drug that interferes with fibrinolysis, in use for more than 50 years in surgery, particularly in cardiac surgery.

Only recently, TXA has sparked interest in orthopedic surgeries. Then it has been used in spine surgery, and joint replacement, without reports of complications. Despite extensive studies on its use in elective orthopedic surgeries, and its high safety profile, there are few studies regarding its use in orthopedic trauma surgery. Studies have shown the effectiveness and safety of TXA at FIT, but presented different forms of administration (intravenous, topical, infiltrative) . Despite promising results to contain bleeding in elective orthopedic surgery and fractures, in daily practice, TXA is not very popular, especially in fractures, and has not been used routinely by all doctors. Studies have not been found in the literature about the topical use of TXA compared to intravenous use in FIT.

02

Conditions studied

  • Hemorrhage
  • Fracture Femur

Keywords

  • Tranexamic acid
  • Hemorrhage
  • Hip fractures
  • blood transfusion
03

In context

Hemorrhage

1,383 studies on the registry are indexed under Hemorrhage; 244 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 90 is below the median of 102 across 926 interventional studies indexed under Hemorrhage.

Browse Hemorrhage studies →

Lead sponsor

Universidade do Vale do Sapucai is the lead sponsor of 28 studies on the registry; none are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
60 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Patients of any sex or skin color older than 60 years, admitted for surgical treatment of FIT with indication of fixation with cephalomedullary nails (PFN) in fractures reduced to closed focus.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • to TXA;

    • Thrombocytopenia and coagulation disorders: \<100,000 or prothrombin activity time (TAP) \<70% or activated partial thromboplasty time ()> 40 seconds or International Standardized List (INR)> 1;
    • Hepatorenal dysfunction or severe heart disease;
    • Previous surgery in the same place;
    • Use of anticoagulants and corticoids;
    • Pathological fractures of neoplastic origin or duration of neoplastic treatment;
    • disease;
    • History of pulmonary embolism;
    • History of any type of thrombosis (cerebral, in limbs) or stroke;
    • ≥ 40kg / m2 ;
    • Patients in need of a second surgical access to reduce the fracture with a direct approach to the fracture focus;
    • Diabetes with difficult control.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(5)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Hypersensitivity

An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.

Platelets

Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.

INR, PT and aPTT (clotting tests)

Blood tests of how long blood takes to clot. The INR is the prothrombin time (PT) put on a common scale; about 1 is usual for someone not taking a blood thinner.

Criteria often make an exception for people on a blood thinner such as warfarin, whose INR is raised on purpose.

Autoimmune disease

A condition in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease.

Immunotherapy studies often leave out active autoimmune disease, and some name exceptions, such as thyroid disease on replacement hormone. Check the exceptions this study lists.

BMI (body mass index)

Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.

What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Crossover assignment
Masking
Double (Participant, Investigator)
Enrollment
90 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    INTRAVENOUS

    30 patients who will receive 15mg / kg of TXA intravenous in 100ml salina solution (0,9%), after anesthetic induction and before incising the skin (administered in 10 minutes). For masking purposes, these patients will also receive at the end of the surgery, and before performing the plan closure, a compress soaked in 80ml of saline solution (0.9%), which will fill all the plans of the incision, and will be kept for 5 minutes.

    Drug: Tranexamic acid

  • Active comparator
    LOCAL

    30 patients who, at the end of the surgery, and before the suture in layers, will receive a compress soaked in a solution of 1.5 g of tranexamic acid (six ampoules of Transamin®, Zydus Nikkho) diluted in 50 ml of saline solution (0.9 %) (total volume of 80ml), which will fill all the plans of the incision and will be maintained for 5 minutes. For masking purposes, these patients will also receive 100ml of saline solution (0.9%) after anesthetic induction and before incising the skin.

    Drug: Tranexamic acid

  • Placebo comparator
    PLACEBO

    30 patients who will not receive the TXA, but will receive a 100ml intravenous saline solution 0,9% after anesthetic induction and before incising the skin (such as group 1) and a compress soaked in saline solution as used in group 2.

    Other: Saline solution

Interventions

  • The surgical technique consists in patient in supina position with previous reduction with lower limb traction (on a traction table or manual) associated or not with the use of percutaneous reduction clamps. Longitudinal lateral incision of 3-5 cm proximal to the greater trochanter, approximately 5 cm long, will be performed. After the skin and subcutaneous incision, the fascia lata will be incised in the same direction, with exposure of the gluteal muscles and the proximal femur. The awl will be introduced at the tip of the greater trochanter and then, at the same location, an intramedullary guidewire, towards the proximal shaft, crossing the fracture. A 3 cm incision to the thigh and inferior to the initial incision with template to introduce the screw in the center of the femoral head. Then, a 2cm incision will be made at the distal end of the nail, and a hole in the femur for the distal lock in dynamic nail hole with a 4.5mm drill where a cortical screw will be inserted.

    Also known as: surgery

  • OtherSaline solution

    30 patients who will not receive the TXA, but will receive a 100ml intravenous saline solution 0,9% after anesthetic induction and before incising the skin (such as group 1) and a compress soaked in saline solution as used in group 2

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. To assess bleeding loss in operative intertrochanteric fractures

    Blood loss assessment: Patients will be evaluated 1 day before surgery and on the first and second postoperative days with the following laboratory tests: complete blood count and coagulogram, hemoglobin, hematocrit, APTT and INR. The calculation of the estimated initial blood volume will be: Women: (height in meters x 0.3561) + (weight in Kg x 0.03308) + 0.1833 and men: (height in meters x 0.3669) + (weight in Kg x 0.03219) + 0.6041(LEVINE et al., 2014; ALMEIDA et al., 2018). Blood loss (PS) will be calculated in milliliters (ml), based on the hemoglobin levels adjusted for the patient's initial blood volume. PS = Estimated initial volume x (Initial hematocrit less (-) post-operative hematocrit) / (Initial hematocrit)) (GROSS, 1983).

    Time frame: 2 YEARS

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • Hospital das Clinicas Samuel Libanio
    Pouso Alegre, MG 37550000, Brazil
    Recruiting
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Foss NB, Kehlet H. Hidden blood loss after surgery for hip fracture. J Bone Joint Surg Br. 2006 Aug;88(8):1053-9. doi: 10.1302/0301-620X.88B8.17534. PubMed 16877605 ↗
  • Henry DA, Carless PA, Moxey AJ, O'Connell D, Stokes BJ, Fergusson DA, Ker K. Anti-fibrinolytic use for minimising perioperative allogeneic blood transfusion. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2011 Mar 16;2011(3):CD001886. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD001886.pub4. PubMed 21412876 ↗
  • Lei J, Zhang B, Cong Y, Zhuang Y, Wei X, Fu Y, Wei W, Wang P, Wen S, Huang H, Wang H, Han S, Liu S, Zhang K. Tranexamic acid reduces hidden blood loss in the treatment of intertrochanteric fractures with PFNA: a single-center randomized controlled trial. J Orthop Surg Res. 2017 Aug 15;12(1):124. doi: 10.1186/s13018-017-0625-9. PubMed 28810918 ↗
  • Mohib Y, Rashid RH, Ali M, Zubairi AJ, Umer M. Does tranexamic acid reduce blood transfusion following surgery for inter-trochanteric fracture? A randomized control trial. J Pak Med Assoc. 2015 Nov;65(11 Suppl 3):S17-20. PubMed 26878513 ↗
  • Tengberg PT, Foss NB, Palm H, Kallemose T, Troelsen A. Tranexamic acid reduces blood loss in patients with extracapsular fractures of the hip: results of a randomised controlled trial. Bone Joint J. 2016 Jun;98-B(6):747-53. doi: 10.1302/0301-620X.98B6.36645. Erratum In: Bone Joint J. 2016 Dec;98-B(12):1711-1712. doi: 10.1302/0301-620X.98B12.38082a. PubMed 27235515 ↗
  • Zhou XD, Zhang Y, Jiang LF, Zhang JJ, Zhou D, Wu LD, Huang Y, Xu NW. Efficacy and Safety of Tranexamic Acid in Intertrochanteric Fractures: A Single-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial. Orthop Surg. 2019 Aug;11(4):635-642. doi: 10.1111/os.12511. Epub 2019 Aug 16. PubMed 31419080 ↗
  • Zhu Q, Yu C, Chen X, Xu X, Chen Y, Liu C, Lin P. Efficacy and Safety of Tranexamic Acid for Blood Salvage in Intertrochanteric Fracture Surgery: A Meta-Analysis. Clin Appl Thromb Hemost. 2018 Nov;24(8):1189-1198. doi: 10.1177/1076029618783258. Epub 2018 Jun 21. PubMed 29929380 ↗
  • Bostrom J, Grant JA, Fjellstrom O, Thelin A, Gustafsson D. Potent fibrinolysis inhibitor discovered by shape and electrostatic complementarity to the drug tranexamic acid. J Med Chem. 2013 Apr 25;56(8):3273-80. doi: 10.1021/jm301818g. Epub 2013 Apr 10. PubMed 23521080 ↗
  • Diaz AR, Navas PZ. Risk factors for trochanteric and femoral neck fracture. Rev Esp Cir Ortop Traumatol (Engl Ed). 2018 Mar-Apr;62(2):134-141. doi: 10.1016/j.recot.2017.09.002. Epub 2018 Feb 21. English, Spanish. PubMed 29429857 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Nov 4, 2022, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04696224
Lead sponsor
Universidade do Vale do Sapucai
Responsible party
Carlos Delano Mundim Araujo (Professor, Universidade do Vale do Sapucai) — Principal investigator
First posted
Jan 6, 2021
Start date
Dec 18, 2020
Primary completion
Dec 18, 2022 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 18, 2022 (estimated)
Last update
Nov 4, 2022

Study contacts

LARISSA M BARROS, MD
Contact
larissambarros@hotmail.com
+5511987635825
THALITA AP MAMEDES
Contact
pesquisa@univas.edu.br
3534499269
Carlos DM ARAÚJO, MD, PhD
principal investigator · Universidade do Vale do Sapucai

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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Studies of the drug tested here: Tranexamic Acid

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