Clinical Trial: A Study on the Safety of Tranexamic Acid for the Chronic Subdural Hematoma Population

Study Status: Recruiting
Recruit Status: Recruiting
Study Type: Interventional

Official Title:

Brief Summary: This is a single center single arm study of 50 patients to 1) determine the safety of tranexamic acid in the chronic subdural hematoma population following surgical drainage of chronic subdural hematomas and 2) determine if the use of oral tranexamic acid reduces the rate of ipsilateral recurrence following drainage of chronic subdural hematomas. This will be compared to historical controls. This study intends to be a prerequisite to a large nationally funded randomized control trial.

Detailed Summary:

Chronic subdural hematomas are a common problem faced by neurosurgery with an annual incidence of 13.5/100,00 persons per year and up to 58/100,000 in the over 65 years old population. Their treatment is often complicated by recurrence with rates reported as high as 33%. Currently there is no good strategy to help avoid this problem, which adds significantly to patient morbidity. The pathogenesis of this problem is believed to be related to the propensity of the associated neo-membranes to bleed. It has been shown with labeled red blood cells that bleeding continues to occur into the hematoma cavity. It has also been shown that there are high levels of tissue plasminogen activator in the outer membrane of chronic subdural hematomas. It has been found that ratio of tissue plasminogen activator to plasminogen activator inhibitor contributed to the pathogenesis. It has also been shown that chronic subdural hematomas have high levels of fibrin degradation products which in addition to marking the breakdown of fibrin are themselves antihemostatic by enhancing tissue plasminogen activator activity, having an antithrombin affect and inhibiting platelet aggregation and fibrin polymerization. Essentially, a scenario of ongoing hemorrhage and repeated clot formation and hyperfibrinolysis leads to the expansion and recurrence of chronic subdural hematomas.

Given the importance of plasmin and hyperfibrinolysis in the pathophysiology of chronic subdural hematomas, interrupting its action and the vicious cycle it propagates seems an ideal therapeutic target. Tranexamic acid is a synthetic lysine amino acid derivative. It binds to the fibrin binding sites on plasmin or plasminogen and prevents its interaction and degradation of fibrin. This effect on the neo-membranes of chronic subdural hematomas should prevent rebleeding and the reaccumulation of the subdural hematoma.

occurrence of stroke, myocardial infarction, deep vein thrombosis, and/or pulmonary embolism