B.C. ambulance paramedics are now able to use a blood-clotting drug that's expected to help stabilize trauma patients with severe internal bleeding.
Tranexamic acid or TXA reduces the need for pre-surgery blood transfusions and has been used by NATO medical teams to stabilize severely injured soldiers.
Early use of it has been found to reduce the risk of death from bleeding by 30 per cent.
There were more than 3,400 ambulance calls in B.C. last year involving trauma or internal bleeding that might have benefitted from the drug.
"TXA is a life-extending medication that helps paramedics figuratively stop time, so a critical patient can stabilize en route to the hospital and be ready for life-saving surgery,” said Dr. William Dick of B.C. Emergency Health Services.
He said TXA will be used by paramedics province-wide and predicted it will help save lives in trauma cases.