Efficacy and safety of using aminocaproic acid and tranexamic acid during the perioperative period for treating trochanteric fractures in elderly femurs

BACKGROUND: Tranexamic acid (TXA) has long been the antifibrinolytic hemostatic drug of choice for orthopedic surgery. In recent years, the hemostatic effect of epsilon aminocaproic acid (EACA) has gradually been recognized by orthopedic surgeons and has begun to be used in hip and knee arthroplasty with little mention of the comparison of these two drugs; Therefore, this study compared the efficacy and safety of EACA and TXA in the perioperative period of elderly patients with trochanteric fractures to verify whether EAC could be a "qualified alternative" to TXA and to provide theoretical support for the clinical application of TXA. METHODS: Two hundred and forty-three patients who received proximal femoral nail antirotation (PFNA) for trochanteric fractures from January 2021 to March 2022 at our institution were included and divided into the EACA group (n = 146) and the TXA group. (n = 97) determined by the drugs used in the perioperative period The main observations were blood loss and blood transfusion.The second second outcome was blood routine, coagulation, Hospital complications and complications after discharge. RESULTS: The perioperative EACA patients had significantly lower significant blood loss (DBL) than the TXA group (p < 0.0001) and statistically significant lower C-reactive protein in the EACA group than in the TXA group on postoperative day 1 (p = 0.022). Patients on perioperative TXA had better postoperative day one (p = 0.002) and postoperative day five erythrocyte width than the EACA group (p = 0.004). However, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in the remaining indicators in both drugs: blood items, coagulation indicators, blood loss, blood transfusion, length of hospital(LOH), total hospital expense, and postoperative complications (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The hemostatic effects and safety of EACA and TXA in the perioperative application of trochanteric fractures in the elderly are essentially similar, and EACA can be considered for use as an alternative to TXA, increasing the flexibility of physicians to use it in the clinical setting. However, the limited sample size included necessitated a high-quality, large sample of clinical studies and long-term follow-up.