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Approved the use of tranexamic acid in stroke
Last reviewed: 30.11.2018
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Tranexamic acid is a known means for stopping post-traumatic and postpartum hemorrhages. It turned out that this drug can be useful in hemorrhagic stroke. The study was conducted by employees of the University of Nottingham, with the financial support of NMI (National Institute of Medical Research).
Annually, more than 150 thousand Britons are hospitalized with strokes. Most of these ischemic strokes, provoked by the cessation of blood flow to a particular brain department. Such acute pathology is treated mainly with medicines that can dissolve blood clots and restore blood flow in the affected vessel. But about 15% of patients get into the hospital with a diagnosis of "hemorrhagic stroke" - with such a pathology the vessel is damaged, which in a short period of time causes irreversible changes in tissues and death.
Previously, scientists have already established: tranexamic acid is able to quickly cope with the stopping of bleeding in injuries and after childbirth. A new experiment was devoted to testing the effect of the drug on patients admitted with hemorrhagic stroke.
The doctors monitored the condition of hospitalized patients who voluntarily agreed to participate in the study. Individual patients at the time of admission were unconscious, so specialists asked for consent from their relatives. Stroke in patients admitted was determined using computed tomography.
The total duration of the study was five years. The total number of people who took part in the project is about two thousand. A separate part of the patients was given a "dummy" instead of a hemostatic. Repeated diagnosis was carried out two, seven and ninety days after the stroke.
According to the results it was found that the general condition of the patients who were or was not injected the drug did not differ ninety days after the stroke. But among those who received treatment with acid, the death rate for seven days after the stroke was significantly lower. Tranexamic acid quickly stopped the hemorrhage, making patients less likely to get complications (compared with the second group receiving the "placebo").
During the experiment, it was also found that tranexamic acid was more effective in patients with low blood pressure values. In addition, the most effective treatment was noted when the drug was administered within the first three hours of the stroke. As a result, experts concluded: tranexamic acid has a significant positive effect on the survival rate of patients with hemorrhagic stroke.
The information is provided by The Lancet.
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