European journal of haematology
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We studied the clinical efficacy and safety of the antifibrinolytic drug tranexamic acid (TA) in patients undergoing chemotherapy for acute leukemia. 54 newley diagnosed AML patients were treated with 1 g of TA every 6 hours until the platelet count rose to above 20 x 10(9)/l. Platelet transfusions were given, irrespective of the count, only when oral, mucosal or significant skin bleeding manifestations were observed. During induction, the average number of days with thrombocytopenia below 20 x 10(9)/l was 14.4 +/- 7.4 and 4.6 +/- 4.1 transfusions were given in each course. ⋯ TA was tolerated very well and no side effects or thromboembolic complications were observed. Only in 6 of the 78 induction courses did a major bleeding event occur and there were none in any of the 53 consolidation courses. Thus it seems that TA therapy allowed a significant reduction in the use of platelet transfusions without submitting the patients to greater bleeding risks.