Underuse of Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis for General Surgery Patients

Abstract

VENOUS thromboembolism is a common complication of surgery, occurring in up to 65% of patients undergoing orthopedic surgery and 33% or more of patients undergoing general surgical procedures.¹ Since the early 1970s, multiple clinical trials^2-5 have established the effectiveness of prophylaxis for preventing postoperative deep vein thrombosis and fatal pulmonary embolism. Cost-effectiveness analyses have established that the use of prophylaxis reduces health care costs.^6-9 Consensus recommendations for use of prophylaxis have been widely disseminated.^4,5,10