Traumatic Injury Clinical Trial Evaluating Tranexamic Acid in Children: A Pilot and Feasibility Study

Tranexamic acid (TXA), a drug that stops bleeding, is the only drug treatment that improves survival in adults with serious bleeding after injuries. However, TXA has not been used routinely in children with traumatic bleeding because no studies have appropriately evaluated TXA for injured children. Such a study has the potential for significant impact in improving the lives of injured children and their families, if found to be successful. The long-term objective is to evaluate the benefits and risks of TXA in severely injured children. This will be achieved by ultimately conducting two large-scale, multicenter, randomized controlled trials of TXA use in severely injured children. One trial will evaluate TXA in children with severe injuries to the body ("torso injuries", i.e., to the abdomen and chest) and the second trial will evaluate TXA in children with moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). However, conducting a clinical trial in critically ill children is challenging due to lower disease frequency and complex parent consent/child assent procedures. The investigators will conduct a pilot study, designed similarly to the full-scale trials but with much smaller patient enrollment, to assess the feasibility of, and fill crucial information gaps for the two subsequent large-scale clinical trials. Injured children will be randomized to one of three study arms: two different TXA doses or placebo. The specific aim of the proposed pilot study is to demonstrate the ability to efficiently identify and enroll children with hemorrhagic torso injuries or TBIs into a multicenter, randomized controlled pilot study evaluating these two doses of TXA and placebo. The pilot study will enroll 40 children who meet inclusion and exclusion criteria at 4 participating sites. To demonstrate the ability to collect outcome measures, the investigators will collect the identical anticipated outcome measures for the subsequent clinical trials: total blood products transfused over the initial 48 hours of care (torso injury trial), and intracranial hemorrhage progression in first 24 hours and neurocognitive function at 6 months after randomization (TBI trial). The investigators will also collect safety outcomes, specifically venothromboembolic events (i.e., blot clots in the blood vessels) and seizures within the initial 24 hours of study drug. Additional objectives of this pilot study are to: evaluate the ability to efficiently screen, identify, consent, randomize, and initiate the study intervention within 3 hours of injury, assess protocol adherence and variability of care in enrolled patients, and identify operational efficiencies with the potential to enhance the success of the subsequent trials.

Inclusion criteria

• Less than 18 years old AND
• Penetrating torso trauma, blunt torso trauma, or head trauma as defined below.
• Penetrating Torso Trauma:

a. Penetrating trauma to the chest, abdomen, neck, pelvis or thigh with at least one of the following:

• age-adjusted hypotension, or
• age-adjusted tachycardia despite adequate resuscitation fluids, or
• radiographic evidence of internal hemorrhage, or
• clinician suspicion of ongoing internal hemorrhage
• Blunt Torso Trauma (at least one of the following):

• Clinician suspicion of hemorrhagic blunt torso injury and at least one of the following:

• age-adjusted hypotension, or
• persistent age-adjusted tachycardia despite adequate resuscitation fluids
• Hemothorax on chest tube placement or imaging,
• Clinical suspicion of hemorrhagic blunt torso injury and Intraperitoneal fluid on abdominal ultrasonography (Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma),
• Intra-abdominal injury on CT with either contrast extravasation or more than trace intraperitoneal fluid,
• Pelvic fracture with contrast extravasation or hematoma on abdominal/pelvic CT scan with at least one of the following:

• Age-adjusted tachycardia, or
• Age-adjusted hypotension.
• Head Trauma:

• Initial Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score 3 to 13 with associated intracranial hemorrhage on cranial CT scan (enroll after cranial CT scan)

Exclusion criteria

• Unable to administer study drug within 3 hours of traumatic event
• Known pregnancy
• Known prisoners
• Known wards of the state
• Cardiac arrest prior to randomization
• GCS score of 3 with bilateral unresponsive pupils
• Isolated subarachnoid hemorrhage, epidural hematoma, or diffuse axonal injury
• Known bleeding/clotting disorders
• Known seizure disorders
• Known history of severe renal impairment
• Unknown time of injury
• Previous enrollment into the TIC-TOC trial
• Prior TXA for current injury
• Non-English and non-Spanish speaking
• Known venous or arterial thrombosis