Tranexamic acid and convulsive seizure

In cardiac surgical patients, tranexamic acid (TXA) increases the risk of convulsive seizures (CS), an effect which is probably dose- and procedure-dependent. We assessed in elective valvular open-heart surgery the effect of a moderate TXA dose without body weight (BW) adjustment on CS. Out of a cohort of 13,293 patients, we performed a propensity score (PS)–matched analysis in 6,106 patients. In subgroup analyses, we tried to identify groups of increased CS risk. Moreover, we assessed the multivariable-adjusted association of CS with postoperative mortality.