• Milo Hollingworth, Lisa J Woodhouse, Zhe K Law, Azlinawati Ali, Kailash Krishnan, Robert A Dineen, Hanne Christensen, Timothy J England, Christine Roffe, David Werring, Nils Peters, Alfonso Ciccone, Thompson Robinson, Anna Członkowska, Dániel Bereczki, Juan José Egea-Guerrero, Serefnur Ozturk, Philip M Bath, Nikola Sprigg, and TICH-2 Investigators.
• Department of Neurosurgery, Nottingham University Hospitals, Nottingham , UK.
• Neurosurgery. 2024 Sep 1; 95 (3): 605616605-616.

Background And ObjectivesAn important proportion of patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) undergo neurosurgical intervention to reduce mass effect from large hematomas and control the complications of bleeding, including hematoma expansion and hydrocephalus. The Tranexamic acid (TXA) for hyperacute primary IntraCerebral Hemorrhage (TICH-2) trial demonstrated that tranexamic acid (TXA) reduces the risk of hematoma expansion. We hypothesized that TXA would reduce the frequency of surgery (primary outcome) and improve functional outcome at 90 days in surgically treated patients in the TICH-2 data set.MethodsParticipants enrolled in TICH-2 were randomized to placebo or TXA. Participants randomized to either TXA or placebo were analyzed for whether they received neurosurgery within 7 days and their characteristics, outcomes, hematoma volumes (HVs) were compared. Characteristics and outcomes of participants who received surgery were also compared with those who did not.ResultsNeurosurgery was performed in 5.2% of participants (121/2325), including craniotomy (57%), hematoma drainage (33%), and external ventricular drainage (21%). The number of patients receiving surgery who received TXA vs placebo were similar at 4.9% (57/1153) and 5.5% (64/1163), respectively (odds ratio [OR] 0.893; 95% CI 0.619-1.289; P -value = .545). TXA did not improve outcome compared with placebo in either surgically treated participants (OR 0.79; 95% CI 0.30-2.09; P = .64) or those undergoing hematoma evacuation by drainage or craniotomy (OR 1.19 95% 0.51-2.78; P -value = .69). Postoperative HV was not reduced by TXA (mean difference -8.97 95% CI -23.77, 5.82; P -value = .45).ConclusionTXA was not associated with less neurosurgical intervention, reduced HV, or improved outcomes after surgery.Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

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