Effectiveness of Nebulized Tranexamic Acid in Patients with Moderate-to-Massive Hemoptysis at a Tertiary Academic Medical Center

Introduction: The management of severe hemoptysis mainly consists of invasive interventional procedures, including angiographic bronchial artery embolization, various endobronchial interventions, and sometimes surgery. However, there are limited effective noninvasive medical therapies available. The objective of this analysis was to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of nebulized tranexamic acid (TXA) administration compared with conventional management in patients with hemoptysis. Methods: This Institutional Review Board-approved, single-center, retrospective matched cohort study was performed from January 1, 2018 to March 31, 2021. Electronic health record data were used to identify all adult inpatients with hemoptysis (International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, code R04.2). All patients who received ≥1 dose of nebulized TXA were matched with up to five controls based on available severity criteria (hemoptysis severity, need for mechanical ventilation, and sequential organ failure assessment score at the time of hemoptysis diagnosis) with coarsened exact matching. The primary outcome was the need for invasive interventions for the management of hemoptysis. Secondary outcomes included time to hemoptysis resolution, duration of mechanical ventilation, hemoptysis recurrence, and hospital length of stay. Results: A total of 14 patients were treated with nebulized TXA; they were matched with 58 controls. Patients were 59.7% male, had a median age of 65.5 years, with airway disease (36.1%) being the major etiology of hemoptysis. There was no difference in the number of patients who required an invasive intervention between the TXA (35.7%) versus control group (56.9%), p = 0.344. Additionally, no difference was found in the time to hemoptysis resolution (p = 0.050), duration on mechanical ventilation (p = 0.128), hemoptysis recurrence (p = 1.000), or hospital length of stay (p = 0.139). Conclusions: In patients with hemoptysis, nebulized TXA may be considered as a noninvasive option for the management of hemoptysis. However, a larger analysis is warranted to determine the impact of nebulized TXA on invasive interventions for management.