Abstract
Background: The CRASH-3 trial is a randomised trial on the effect of tranexamic acid (TXA) on death and disability in traumatic brain injury (TBI). The CRASH-3 intracranial bleeding mechanistic study (IBMS) is a randomised trial nested within the CRASH-3 trial to examine the effect of TXA on intracranial bleeding and infarction. Methods: Patients eligible for the CRASH-3 trial, with a GCS of 12 or less or intracranial bleeding on a pre-randomisation CT scan are eligible for the IBMS. The occurrence of intracranial bleeding, infarction, haemorrhagic oedematous lesions, mass effect and haemorrhage evacuation is examined within 28 days of randomisation using routinely collected brain scans. The primary outcome is the volume of intra-parenchymal bleeding in patients randomised within three hours of injury (adjusted for prognostic covariates). Secondary outcomes include a composite “poor” outcome, progressive and new intracranial bleeding, intracranial bleeding after neurosurgery and cerebral infarcts seen up to 28 days post-randomisation. All outcomes will be compared between treatment groups. Statistical analyses: The primary outcome will be analysed using a covariate adjusted linear mixed model. The same analysis will be done separately for patients who undergo haemorrhage evacuation post-randomisation. We will express the effect of TXA on the composite outcome, new and progressive bleeding using relative risks and 95% CIs, and on cerebral infarcts using hazard ratios and 95% CIs. We will conduct sensitivity analyses assuming missing data are MCAR or MNAR. Conclusion: The IBMS will provide information on the mechanism of action of TXA in TBI. This pre-specified statistical analysis plan is a technical extension of the published protocol. Trial registration: The CRASH-3 trial was prospectively registered at the International Standard Randomised Controlled Trials registry (19 July 2011) and ClinicalTrials.gov (25 July 2011). The registries were updated with details for the IBMS on 20 December 2016.
Highlights
This is a careful and detailed description of an important clinical trial
When the two trials were combined in a meta-analysis (n=478), there appears to be a statistically significant reduction in intracranial haemorrhage growth (RR 0.75, 95% confidence intervals (CIs) 0.58–0.98; P = 0.03) and mortality (RR 0.63, 95% CI 0.40–0.99; P = 0.05) with tranexamic acid
We expected a 15% reduction in intracranial bleeding with tranexamic acid (24ml tranexamic acid, 28ml placebo), a correlation of 0.6 between pre- and post-randomisation bleeding volumes, and a standard deviation of 28ml
Summary
A nested randomised trial of the effect of tranexamic acid on intracranial haemorrhage and infarction in traumatic brain injury (CRASH-3 trial intracranial bleeding mechanistic study): Statistical analysis plan [version 3; peer review: 3 approved, 1 approved with reservations].
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