Temporary Clamping of Drains Combined With Tranexamic Acid Reduce Blood Loss After TKA: A Prospective RCT

Temporary Clamping of Drains Combined With Tranexamic Acid Reduce Blood Loss After Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial.

Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) may be associated with significant blood loss, and transfusion carries substantial risk of immunologic reaction and disease transmission. Several methods reportedly reduce postoperative blood loss and avoid homologous blood transfusion with traditional TKA approaches. Drain clamping was one of the widely used method and tranexamic acid administration was the recently adjuvant method to reduce blood loss in TKA. However, there were several regimens in either drain clamping or tranexamic acid administration reported in previous studies. Our objective was to compare the efficacy of our drain clamping protocol and/or tranexamic acid regimen for reducing blood loss and transfusion in TKA.

Inclusion Criteria:

• The patients younger than 85 years with knee osteoarthritis

Exclusion Criteria:

• The patient diagnosed secondary osteoarthritis (eg, rheumatoid arthritis, posttraumatic arthritis, gouty arthritis, postseptic arthritis)
• High-risk medical comorbid patient
• The patient who was planed for simultaneous bilateral TKAs
• The patient who had history of thromboembolic disease or bleeding disorder
• The patient who was receiving anticoagulant drug treatment
• The patient who had allergy to tranexamic acid