HALT-IT--tranexamic acid for the treatment of gastrointestinal bleeding: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Gastrointestinal bleeding is a common emergency that causes substantial mortality worldwide. Acute upper and lower gastrointestinal bleeding accounts for about 75,000 hospital admissions each year in the UK and causes the death of about 10% of these patients. Tranexamic acid has been shown to reduce the need for blood transfusion in surgical patients and to reduce mortality in bleeding trauma patients, with no apparent increase in thromboembolic events. A systematic review of clinical trials of upper gastrointestinal bleeding shows a reduction in the risk of death with tranexamic acid but the quality of the trials was poor and the estimates are imprecise. The trials were also too small to assess the effect of tranexamic acid on thromboembolic events.

Methods

HALT-

SUBMITTER: Roberts I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4253634 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature