Not approved by Ethics Commettee

The investigators are going to evaluate if adding Tranexamic Acid in femoral shaft fractures surgery can lead to any advantages to the participants, namely if it can reduce post-operative anaemia, blood loss, blood transfusion requirements, length and cost of hospitalisation.

Lower limb procedures represent the majority of orthopaedic surgeries, including joint arthroplasties, sport medicine treatments, and fractures osteo-synthesis, with a rate over 500 per 100,000 population every year, increasing. Albeit being successful procedures routinely performed in the clinical practice, they are frequently encumbered by complications. In particular, femur fractures are common and frequently result in considerable blood loss, ranging from 900 to 1,500 ml, which exposes patients to postoperative anaemia and reduced functional recovery. Allogenic blood transfusions are financial burden, and, even more, they are associated with an unneglectable risk of serious complications, including infection, immuno-suppression, cardiovascular dysfunction, resulting in potentially life-threatening effects on patients. Various strategies have been attempted to minimize blood loss and the need for blood transfusion, and to this aim the use of hemostatic agents, in particular of tranexamic acid (TXA), has recently widely increased in orthopaedic lower limb surgery.

TXA is a synthetic anti-fibrinolytic agent that competitively blocks the lysine binding sites on plasminogen, thereby slowing the conversion of plasminogen to plasmin, thus preventing fibrin clot degradation. A large amount of randomized controlled trials and meta-analysis converge in showing that TXA, applied either through systemic or local administration, is effective in reducing blood loss and subsequent transfusions in lower limb fractures surgery, especially in hip fracture patients, as well in replacement procedures. However, there are still concerns about the risk of increasing venous thromboembolic (VTE) complications, such as deep venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolisms; overall, the scientific high-level literature evidence supports the safety of TXA for the different orthopaedic applications.

This is a 2-arm study aimed at comparing the Tranexamic Acid supplementation protocol and evaluating his advantages over routine protocols. The primary objective will be the effect on postoperative anaemia, detected by serial measurements of haemoglobin, of TXA supplementation for femoral shaft fractures surgery. The secondary objectives of the study will be the comparison between I.V. peri-operative TXA supplementation and normal protocol without TXA in terms of post-operative anaemia (detected by serial haematocrit measurements), intra-operative blood loss, post-operative blood loss, total blood loss (evaluated using the Hb balance formula, estimated blood loss, blood transfusion requirements, length of hospitalisation, cost-effectiveness and frequency of adverse events. In particular the study aims to assess safety of TXA and its tolerability in terms of incidence of venous thromboembolic complications, such as deep venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolisms, wound infection, and death. The safety of TXA supplementation protocol will be verified comparing to the no-treatment group in terms of incidence of complications, such as deep venous thrombosis (based on the Homan sign and Mose sign and confirmed by compression ultrasonography upon clinical suspicion), Pulmonary embolism (confirmed by spiral computed tomography), cerebrovascular accident (confirmed by computed tomographic scan or magnetic resonance imaging), and acute coronary syndrome or myocardial infarction (confirmed by troponin I estimation and electrocardiogram changes), infection, and death. This randomized control trial will thus define if the peri-operative protocol should be implemented with tranexamic acid to reduce post-operative anaemia and blood loss and the rate of blood transfusion leading to a better cost effectiveness, without an increase in adverse events.

The study presents only minimal risks for the included patients.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Acute femoral shaft fracture.
• Patients treated surgically with intramedullary nail or femoral plate
• Patients aged 18-80 years old.
• Patients with a BMI >18.5 and <35.
• Patients able to provide informed consent and follow all the study procedures as indicated by the protocol.
• Informed Consent as documented by signature

Exclusion Criteria:

• Pathological fracture or other lower limb fractures associated or multiple fractures.
• Use of any anticoagulant at the time of admission (eg, vitamin K antagonists, anti-thrombin agents, antiplatelet agents or factor IIa and Xa inhibitors).
• Contraindications to TXA (eg documented allergy to TXA).
• Hepatic dysfunction (aspartate transaminase (AST)/alanine transaminase (ALT)>60 U/l) or renal dysfunction (Cr >1.5 mg/dl of glomerular filtration rate (GFR)>30 ml/min).
• History of DVT or pulmonary embolus.
• Active coronary artery disease or cerebrovascular accident (event in the past 12 months).
• Coagulopathy based on admission laboratory values (international normalised ratio (INR)>1.4, partial thromboplastin time (PTT)>1.4× normal sec, platelets <50 000 per mm3)
• Women who are pregnant or breast feeding.
• Known or suspected non-compliance, drug or alcohol abuse.
• Inability to follow the procedures of the study, e.g. due to language problems, psychological disorders, dementia, etc. of the participant.
• Participation in another study with investigational drug within the 30 days preceding and during the present study.
• Previous enrolment into the current study.
• Enrolment of the investigator, his/her family members, employees and other dependent persons.