European journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society
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Eur J Trauma Emerg Surg · Feb 2021
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyTranexamic acid in traumatic brain injury: an explanatory study nested within the CRASH-3 trial.
The CRASH-3 trial is a randomised trial of tranexamic acid (TXA) on death and disability in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). It is based on the hypothesis that early TXA treatment can prevent deaths from post-traumatic intracranial bleeding. The results showed that timely TXA treatment reduces head injury deaths in patients with reactive pupils and those with a mild to moderate GCS at baseline. We examined routinely collected CT scans in a sample of 1767 CRASH-3 trial patients to explore if, why, and how patients are affected by TXA. ⋯ Patients with reactive pupils and/or mild to moderate GCS may have benefited from TXA in the CRASH-3 trial because they had less intracranial bleeding at baseline. However, because bleeding occurs soon after injury, treatment delay reduces the benefit of TXA.