Tranexamic Acid and Total Joint Arthroplasty

Total Joint Arthroplasty (TJA) is one of the most common orthopaedic procedures performed worldwide that restores function and allows patients to maintain their activities of daily living [1] Optimizing patients for surgery is of utmost importance, including conserving blood to minimize the risk of surgical site infection since immunomodulatory effects of allogenic blood [2] predisposes TJA patients to development of surgical site infection [3]. Blood conservation strategies in TJA can be broadly categorized into preoperative, intraoperative (surgical and pharmacological) and postoperative interventions [4-7]. Administration of Tranexamic Acid (TA) is one of the most effective available blood conservation strategies in TJA that based on timing of administration can be considered as either intraoperative or postoperative blood conservation strategy.