• Chunbo Li, Yuping Gong, Lingling Dong, Bingying Xie, and Zhiyuan Dai.
• aDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine bDepartment of Nursing, Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University cDepartment of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Obstetrics Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2017 Jan 1; 96 (1): e5653.

BackgroundTo assess the efficacy and safety of tranexamic acid (TA) in reducing blood loss and lowering transfusion needs for patients undergoing caesarean section (CS) or vaginal delivery (VD).MethodsAn electronic literature search of PubMed, EMBASE, OVID, Cochrane library, Scopus, Central, and Clinical trials.gov was performed to identify studies that evaluating the usage of TA in CS or VD. The methodological quality of included trials was assessed and data extraction was performed.ResultsFinally, 25 articles with 4747 participants were included. Our findings indicated TA resulted in a reduced intra-, postoperative, and total blood loss by a mean volume of 141.25 mL (95% confidence interval [CI] -186.72 to -95.79, P < 0.00001), 36.42 mL (95% CI -46.50 to -26.34, P < 0.00001), and 154.25 mL (95% CI -182.04 to -126.47, P < 0.00001) in CS. TA administration in VD was associated with a reduced intra-, postoperative, and total blood loss by a mean volume of 22.88 mL (95% CI -50.54 to 4.77, P = 0.10), 41.24 mL (95% CI -55.50 to -26.98, P < 0.00001), and 84.79 mL (95% CI -109.93 to -59.65, P < 0.00001). In addition, TA could lower the occurrence rate of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) and severe PPH, and reduce the risk of blood transfusions. No increased risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) after CS or VD was associated with TA usage, while the minor side effects were more common.ConclusionsOur findings indicated that intravenous TA for patients undergoing CS was effective and safe. Although prophylactic TA administration is associated with reduced PPH, current existing data are insufficient to draw definitive recommendations about its clinical significance due to the poor to moderate quality of the included literatures. Thus, high-quality randomized controlled trials with larger samples are needed to validate our findings.

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