Treatments for Trauma-Induced Coagulopathy: Protocol for a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Trauma-induced coagulopathy (TIC) is a common and potentially life-threatening coagulopathy as a result of traumatic injury, characterized by abnormal blood clotting and bleeding. Although several treatments have been proposed for TIC, their effectiveness and safety remain unclear. Further, numerous systematic reviews and meta-analyses on trauma have been conducted; however, to our knowledge, there is no systematic review and meta-analysis that specifically focuses on TIC management. Therefore, a comprehensive synthesis of the available evidence on interventions for TIC is needed. Objective: This systematic review and meta-analysis aim to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of interventions for the management of TIC. Methods: We will conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized and nonrandomized controlled trials as well as observational studies regarding severe trauma in patients with TIC. The interventions will include administration of coagulation factor concentrates, tranexamic acid, and blood component products. The control group will be managed with an ordinal transfusion or administered placebo. The primary outcome will be in-hospital mortality. We will search the electronic databases of MEDLINE (PubMed), Web of Science, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Two reviewers will independently screen the titles and abstracts, retrieve the full text of the selected articles, and extract essential data. We will apply uniform criteria for evaluating the risk of bias associated with individual randomized controlled trials and nonrandomized trials based on the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool. Risk ratio values will be expressed as point estimates with 95% CIs. Continuous variables will be expressed as the mean difference along with their 95% CIs and P values. We will assess the strength of evidence using the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) approach. This review will be the first systematic review and meta-analysis providing information on the effectiveness and safety of interventions for the management of TIC, including the administration of coagulation factor concentrates, tranexamic acid, and blood component products. Ethics approval and patient consent were not required for this study protocol, as we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of publicly available data, without any direct involvement of human participants. Results: We will summarize the selection of the eligible studies using a PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) flowchart. The results will be presented in a table summarizing the evidence. The results of the meta-analysis will be depicted using figures and forest plots. Conclusions: This systematic review will provide updated information on the efficacy and safety of using coagulation factor concentrates, tranexamic acid, and blood component products for patients with TIC. To our knowledge, there is no systematic review and meta-analysis that specifically focuses on treatments for TIC.