Dr. Della Valle’s study wins The James A. Rand Young Investigator’s Award

A recent study that Dr. Della Valle co-authored has won The James A. Rand Young Investigator’s Award. The study is entitled “A Randomized Controlled Trial Of Oral And IV Tranexamic Acid: The Same Efficacy At Lower Cost?”. The award will be presented on November 7th at the annual AAHKS meeting in Dallas, TX.

About the award

The American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons (AAHKS) established the Young Investigator’s Award in honor of James A. Rand, MD, founding member and past president of AAHKS. The purpose of the Award is to recognize a young investigator who demonstrates clinical excellence in knee-related research.

To be eligible, the young researcher must be the principal investigator of the research submitted, and less than five years in active practice from the date of application.

The most outstanding paper that embodies Dr. Rand’s commitment to the highest standards of orthopaedic knowledge will be selected for presentation at the Annual Meeting.

About the study

Blood loss is a concern after hip and knee arthroplasty. Tranexamic acid, is a medication that is used commonly to reduce blood loss and the risk of transfusion after surgery. Tranexamic acid is usually given intravenously at the time of surgery.

In this study, we compared the use of an oral formulation of tranexamic acid to the IV form. The oral form is much less expensive and we found in this study that the oral form was just as effective. This study could lead to substantial cost savings for our health care system, in the range of $50 million dollars per year given that nearly 1,000,000 hip and knee replacements are performed in the United States every year.

Click here to learn more about the award »
Click here to read the study’s abstract »