Early treatment with tranexamic acid could save ‘hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide’
According to a major study published in The Lancet on 14th October 2019, tranexamic acid could reduce deaths in traumatic brain injury patients by as much as 20%, depending on the severity of injury.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide with an estimated 69 million new cases each year.
The CRASH-3 (Clinical Randomisation of an Antifbrinolytic in Significant Head Injury) trial is one of the largest clinical trials ever conducted into head injury with patients recruited from 175 hospitals across 29 countries.
Ian Roberts, Professor of Clinical Trials at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, who co-led the study, said: “We already know that rapid administration of tranexamic acid can save lives in patients with life threatening bleeding in the chest or abdomen such as we often see in victims of traffic crashes, shootings or stabbings. This hugely exciting new result shows that early treatment with TXA also cuts deaths from head injury. It’s an important breakthrough and the first neuroprotective drug for patients with head injury”.
“Traumatic brain injury can happen to anyone at any time, whether it’s through an incident like a car crash or simply falling down the stairs. We believe that if our findings are widely implemented they will boost the chances of people surviving head injuries in both high income and low income countries around the world.”
To read the paper, visit the The Lancet website or watch “CRASH-3 trial: The world’s first drug for traumatic brain injury” on YouTube.