Towards evidence based emergency medicine: best BETs from the Manchester Royal Infirmary. BET 1: tranexamic acid in life-threatening haematuria.

A shortcut review was carried out to establish whether tranexamic acid improves outcomes for patients with life-threatening haematuria. Sixteen papers were found in Medline using the reported searches, of which four presented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these best papers are tabulated. It is concluded that the evidence is limited, but there may be a role for tranexamic acid in life-threatening haematuria, particularly in patients with autosomal-dominant polycystic kidney disease.