Topical Versus Systemic Tranexamic Acid to Reduce Blood Loss After Total Knee and Total Hip Arthroplasty

Background: Tranexamic acid (TXA) has been shown to reduce blood loss during total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and total hip arthroplasty (THA), but the most effective administration method has yet to be determined. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to compare topical and systemic TXA administration to reduce operative blood loss. Methods: MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane CENTRAL were screened for randomized controlled trials comparing topical and systemic TXA for patients who underwent elective TKA and THA. The primary outcome was the total volume of operative blood loss, and the secondary outcomes were postoperative transfusion requirements, hemoglobin drop, hospital length of stay, and the frequencies of the main adverse events (infections and thromboembolic events). Data pooling was performed using RStudio. Subgroup analyses compared outcomes between TKA and THA. Results: Fifty-nine randomized controlled trials with a total of 6,791 patients were included in this review. Data analysis showed no significant difference between topical and systemic TXA application in terms of total blood loss (Hedges g = 0.11; 95% confidence interval [CI], −0.04 to 0.26; I 2 = 82.4%). There was also no significant difference between the 2 groups in hemoglobin drop, hospital length of stay, and transfusion requirements. Subgroup analysis showed that patients undergoing TKA who received topical TXA had a significant reduction in total blood loss (g = 0.19; 95% CI, 0.00 to 0.38; I 2 = 85%; p = 0.046) compared with those who received systemic TXA. Conclusions: Topical and systemic TXA were equally effective in reducing blood loss in the analysis in which THA and TKA were combined. However, in TKA, topical application significantly reduced blood loss compared with systemic administration, while the reverse was true in THA. Further research is still necessary to find the optimal TXA dosage and administration route. Level of Evidence: Therapeutic Level I . See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.