The effect of Tranexamic acid on cardiac surgery bleeding

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Serious bleeding in cardiac surgery leads to re-exploration, blood transfusion and increases the risks of mortality and morbidity. Using the lysine analogous of antifibrionlytic agents are the preferred strategy to suppress the need for transfusion procedures and blood products. Although tranexamic acid has been very influential in reducing the transfusion requirement after operation, tranexamic acid induced seizures is one of the common side effects of this drug. Due to inhibiting the fibrinolysis, thrombotic events are other possible side effects of using tranexamic acid. There are no certain results regarding decreasing the mortality rate by using the drug but it is identified that tranexamic acid does not increase the mortality. In this article, we aimed to review the literature on using tranexamic acid in cardiac surgeries.