Quote:
Originally Posted by Brush Okie
What about side effects? I am thinking clots in peripheral veins with low perfusion turning to an embolism? I am just thinking of possible side effects not knowing a lot about the medication its self but understanding the principal behind it.
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Yes, a drug that clots well has the potential to clot vessels you don't want just as much as the ones you do. All of you that are familiar with tPA (tissue plasminogen activator) the "clot busting" medicine use in ischemic strokes and heart attacks know that the risk of giving it is causing fatal intracranial hemorrhage among other bleeding.
It takes large studies to help us figure out the population of patients in whom the bleeding risk is low compared to the benefit.
So similarly, we need to define the risk of thrombosis and the population that would benefit the most from FVII and this takes large studies. Even "large" studies are not enough sometimes to draw conclusions since trauma patients are so heterogeneous (mechanism and injuries) even compared to strokes and heart attack patients.
The data is fairly robust on Tranexamic acid on the other hand as my surgical colleague has stated and many if not most agree there is a benefit if given EARLY (within 3 hours).