This international, multicentre, pragmatic, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised trial of TxA versus placebo will enrol 3,300 patients throughout Australia and internationally. This is an effectiveness trial – some elements of the trial are deliberately left to the perioperative clinicians’ discretion in order to reflect usual practice and maximise generalisability.
Study Aims: To conduct a large, multicentre clinical trial of tranexamic acid (TxA), an antifibrinolytic drug routinely used to reduce bleeding in cardiac and some orthopaedic surgery, in 3,300 patients undergoing major gastrointestinal (GI) surgery. Our specific aims are to investigate whether TxA:
Aim 1: Reduces surgical site infection (“wound infection”), and other healthcare-associated infections (pneumonia and sepsis).
Aim 2: Reduces red cell transfusion in GI surgery.
Aim 3: Reduces a pooled composite of any serious postoperative complications, and so increases “days alive and at home up to 30 days after surgery” (DAH30).
Aim 4: To evaluate the temporal effect of TxA on perioperative immune and inflammatory responses.
