Nathan Connell: Transforming Surgical Care with Tranexamic Acid
Nathan Connell, Clinical Chief of Hematology at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, shared a post on Linkedln about a recent article by Brett L. Houston et al, published in NEJM, adding:
”Sometimes the most important advances in medicine are not the newest, most expensive therapies.
A new trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM Group) highlights the impact of tranexamic acid, or TXA, in major noncardiac surgery.
TXA is a low-cost medication that helps stabilize blood clots and reduce bleeding.
In more than 8,000 patients across 10 hospitals, a hospital-wide TXA policy reduced red blood cell transfusions from 9.8% to 7.4%, without an increased rate of venous thromboembolism at 90 days.
That matters, because it suggests that using TXA in this scenario is a practical, scalable intervention that leads to:
- Fewer transfusions
- Better stewardship of a limited blood supply
- Potential benefit in health systems with constrained resources
Blood transfusion is lifesaving, but blood is also precious. Interventions like TXA remind us that improving outcomes does not always require high-cost technology.
Sometimes it requires using simple, evidence-based tools consistently and thoughtfully.
For patients, clinicians, hospitals, and global health systems, this is exactly the kind of high-value care we should pay attention to.”
Title: Hospital Policy of Tranexamic Acid to Reduce Transfusion in Major Noncardiac Surgery
Authors: Brett L. Houston, Daniel I. McIsaac, Rodney H. Breau, Salmaan Kanji, Peter Greenstreet, Meghan Andrews, Sinziana Avramescu, Hema S. Bagry, Robert Balshaw, Jayesh Daya, Kaitlin Duncan, Christopher C. Harle, Eric Jacobsohn, Tina Kerelska, Marshall Pitz, Paul Komenda, Sarah McIsaac, Tim Ramsay, Tarit Saha, Alan Tinmouth, Angela Recio, Daniel Szoke, Marshall Tenenbein, Sarah Slagerman, Dayna Solvason, Robert Talarico, Dean A. Fergusson, Ryan Zarychanski
Stay updated on all scientific advances with Hemostasis Today.
-
Nov 13, 2026, 03:21Abdul Muqtadir Abbasi: Iron Deficiency Beyond Anemia and the Importance of Finding the Cause
-
Nov 13, 2026, 03:05Marc Carrier: Aspirin vs Anticoagulants for VTE Prevention After Joint Replacement
-
Nov 13, 2026, 02:28Julia Sjöberg: ROCK1 Inhibition and Red Blood Cell Recovery After Chemotherapy
-
Nov 13, 2026, 02:07Tonie Reincke: Understanding Deep Vein Thrombosis and Vascular Health
-
Nov 13, 2026, 01:52Akshita Singh: The Remarkable Process of Blood Clotting
-
Nov 12, 2026, 22:52Milka Koupenova: The Role of Platelet RIG-I in Regulating Thrombotic Responses
-
Nov 12, 2026, 22:50Arun V J: Why Has India Still Not Achieved 100% Voluntary Blood Donation?
-
Nov 12, 2026, 22:49Sickle Cell Disease Deserves to Be Prioritised in Ghana – ISCC
-
Nov 12, 2026, 22:47Samir Kumar Beura: Delighted to Serve as a Topic Editor for a Research Topic in Frontiers in Neuroscience