comparison between topical and oral tranexamic acid in management of traumatic hyphema

background: we sought to determine the efficacy of topical tranexamic acid (5%) in the management of traumatic hyphema. methods: thirty eyes with gross traumatic hyphema were enrolled in this study. the patients were treated with tranexamic acid (5%) eye drop every 6 hours for 5 days. the main outcome measures were best corrected visual acuity (bcva), intra-ocular pressure (iop), day of clot absorption, and rate of rebleeding. these parameters were evaluated daily for 4 days and thereafter at the 8th and 14th days after treatment. the patients were also compared with two historical control groups of patients (80 eyes) with traumatic hyphema; the first control group was treated with oral placebo and the other group was treated with oral tranexamic acid at our department. result: prior to treatment, the mean logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logmar) bcva was 0.59±0.62. bcva was increased to 0.08±0.14 at day 14 (p<0.001) and the mean iop before treatment was 13.7±3.9 mm hg, which was reduced to 11.4±1.8 mm hg at day 14 (p=0.004). rebleeding occurred in one (3.3%) patient on the 4th day post treatment. comparison between the case group and the other two historical control groups with respect to the rebleeding rate demonstrated statistically significant differences between the case group and the first control group (p=0.008) but no statistically significant differences between the case group and the second control group (p=0.25). conclusion: topical tranexamic acid seems promising in the management of traumatic hyphema. however, the small sample size of the present study precludes the conclusion that topical tranexamic acid can replace the oral tranexamic acid.