post-partum haemorrhage (pPH)

Every year about 14 million women around the world suffer from postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) after giving birth and about 100,000 of them will die


Imagine, about every six minutes, a woman giving birth will bleed to death

 

 

Finding better ways to save the lives of women suffering PPH is critical 

Research Overview

Tranexamic Acid (TXA) for PPH

The WOMAN Trial evaluated the effect of TXA on death, hysterectomy and other surgical interventions, and thromboembolic events in women with clinically diagnosed PPH.

A total of 20,060 women from 21 countries and 193 sites with PPH were randomly allocated to receive TXA (1g intravenously) or matching placebo in addition to usual care. If bleeding continued, a second dose of 1g was given.

Death due to bleeding was significantly reduced with TXA (relative risk = 0·81, 95% CI0·65–1·00, p = 0·045), particularly in women treated within 3 hours of giving birth (relative risk = 0·69, 95% CI 0·52–0·91, p=0·008).

The WOMAN trial showed that if given within 3 hours, TXA can reduce the risk of death due to bleeding by one-third and the need for surgery to stop bleeding by over one-third.

However, for many women, the treatment of PPH is too late to prevent death. Over one-third of pregnant women in the world are anaemic and many are severely anaemic. These women have an increased risk of PPH and suffer more severe outcomes if PPH occurs.

There is an urgent need to identify a safe and effective way to reduce postpartum bleeding in anaemic women. The WOMAN-2 trial investigates if we can use TXA to prevent PPH from happening in the first place.

More Resources

Click on watch, read or teach to access videos, publications, and training materials 

More Treatments

TXAcentral is a resource for health professionals caring for people with acute bleeding
TXAcentral brings together randomised trial evidence on the effectiveness and safety of tranexamic acid
Data on many of the trials are also available at the freeBIRD website

In trauma patients with significant bleeding and those with traumatic brain injury (TBI), TXA has been  shown to reduce mortality in both extracranial and intracranial bleeding

Postpartum Haemorrhage (PPH) is the leading cause of maternal death worldwide, responsible for around 100 000 deaths each year. TXA given as quickly as possible after birth and no later than 3 hours, reduces death due to bleeding and the need for surgery to stop bleeding

GI Bleeding is a common emergency that causes substantial mortality and morbidity worldwide. TXA was found to not reduce deaths from GI bleeding and showed an increased risk of thromboembolic events

Every year there are over 300 million surgical procedures worldwide. Bleeding is an important complication and many patients require a blood transfusion. TXA reduces blood loss in surgical patients by about one‐third. However, the effects of TXA on thromboembolic events and mortality in surgery are uncertain

There is ongoing research looking at how Tranexamic Acid (TXA) could be utilised for other bleeding conditions