Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Tranexamic acid reduces excessive bleeding in dogs with hemorrhagic
By Mays, Erin Long et al.·Published in Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association·2025·North Carolina State University·View original on PubMed →
PetCaseFinder translated the abstract of this peer-reviewed paper into plain English so pet owners can read it. We do not publish original research — every detail traces back to the citation above. How we work →
Original publication title: Tranexamic acid stops hyperfibrinolysis in dogs with hemorrhagic shock: a randomized, controlled clinical trial.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs in hemorrhagic shock (severe blood loss) were treated with either tranexamic acid (TXA) or a saline solution to see if TXA could help stop excessive clot breakdown. While TXA successfully reduced the breakdown of blood clots in the dogs that received it, it did not improve survival rates or reduce the need for blood transfusions compared to those that received saline. All surviving dogs showed normal clotting results after treatment, indicating that TXA was effective in managing the clotting issue, but it didn't change the overall outcome for the dogs.
People also search for: dog hemorrhagic shock treatment · tranexamic acid for dogs · dog blood clotting issues · why is my dog bleeding · dog blood transfusion needs
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of tranexamic acid (TXA) on clot hyperfibrinolysis (HF), defined as excessive clot lysis at 30 minutes (LY30%), with rapid thromboelastography (rTEG) or rTEG samples spiked with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA-stressed rTEG), in dogs with hemorrhagic shock. METHODS: Prospective blinded clinical trial at 2 teaching hospitals, March 16, 2018, to May 20, 2022. Twenty-five dogs with hemorrhagic shock and HF were treated with standard care plus either TXA (20 mg/kg; TXA group) or saline (SAL group) over 20 minutes followed by an infusion of the same dose over 8 hours. Rapid TEG and tPA-stressed rTEG assays were performed immediately before study drug administration and at 8, 12, and 24 hours afterwards (T0, T8, T12, and T24, respectively). RESULTS: 4 dogs died or were euthanized before the end of the study period due to disease/injury severity. All survivors had normal rTEG LY30% values after T0; the value for 1 nonsurvivor increased at T8. The tPA-stressed LY30% normalized in all TXA (n = 14) and 8 of 11 SAL dogs at T8; TXA dogs had lower median tPA-stressed rTEG LY30% values at T8 and T12 than SAL dogs (P = .001 and .02, respectively). There was no treatment effect on blood product administration or survival, and no adverse effects were attributed to TXA administration. CONCLUSIONS: Resuscitation with or without TXA reduced HF identified by tPA-stressed rTEG. Hyperfibrinolysis was completely suppressed at the conclusion of the 8-hour TXA infusion. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Although TXA treatment stopped HF, there was no effect on survival or transfusion requirements.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39305931/