It’s been 7 years of hard work but we got there in the end!
Delighted to announce that we have published our TRAC-24 study papers. This research looked at using a drug called tranexamic acid to reduce blood loss in hip and knee replacements. Normally this drug isn’t used in high-risk patients but is given normally by injection at the time of surgery. In our study we included high risk patients but in addition we looked at giving it in tablet form the first 24 hours after the operation. Having a lower blood loss reduces your risk of needing a blood transfusion and increases your exercise capacity. This makes recovery easier and can reduce the strain on your heart. The study found that the addition of the tablets after knee replacement significantly reduced blood loss which led to a shorter stay in hospital. This will now lead to a change in practice not only for patients in Musgrave Park Hospital but around the world. We found no difference in blood loss when we gave the additional tablets for hip replacement patients.
This was a ground-breaking study as it was the first orthopaedic randomised controlled trial with tranexamic acid to include high-risk patients and we saw no increase in any problems in the patients that were given the drug meaning that it is safe to use in high-risk patients.
This work has been jointly funded by TORC and the Public Health Agency R&D. TORC would like to say a big thank you to the 1086 patients who took part and all of the staff at Musgrave Park Hospital who made this study possible. We would also like to thank the N.I. Clinical Trials Unit for their assistance with the study and of course all of you who have donated to TORC!