Deep Venous Thrombosis Prophylaxis After Unicompartmental Knee Arthroplasty: A Prospective Study on the Safety of Aspirin

Although venous thromboembolism is one of the leading causes of morbidity after knee arthroplasty, little data exist on the risk of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) after unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA).

We prospectively enrolled 112 patients undergoing UKA to determine the incidence of DVT utilizing aspirin 325 mg twice a day (BID) for 4 weeks postoperatively as DVT prophylaxis. The data were compared with a recent randomized controlled trial of patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty utilizing aspirin and Lovenox in conjunction with pneumatic compression devices.

One patient (0.9%) had an asymptomatic DVT, and none developed clinical symptoms of either DVT or pulmonary embolus. The incidence of asymptomatic and symptomatic DVT was 0.9% and 0%, respectively.

Our data suggest that 325 mg of aspirin BID for 4 weeks results in a very low risk of DVT for patients undergoing UKA.