Venous thromboembolism after total knee and hip arthroplasty
Mosaad O. Almegren, MD, Alhanouf A. Alhedaithy, MBBS, Amal S. Alomri, MBBS, Nouf F. Albawardy, MBBS, Rawan S. Mesmar, MBBS, and Mohammad A. Al Qahtani, MDHip Knee
Objectives:
To evaluate the incidence and risk factors of Venous thromboembolism (VTE) among total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and total hip arthroplasty (THA) patients following surgery.
Methods:
We conducted a retrospective review of electronic medical records of consecutive patients between January 2010 and January 2015 who underwent TKA or THA at King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Results:
The incidence of symptomatic VTE was 1.9% (17 events, 95% CI: 1.1–2.8) in 756 patients who underwent 889 surgeries. All VTE cases developed before hospital discharge. Twelve (1.4%) patients developed pulmonary embolism, and 5 (0.6%) patients developed deep vein thrombosis. The majority of patients (n=557, 62.7%) underwent surgery for single TKA, and 138 (15.5%) patients underwent bilateral arthroplasty. Based on univariate risk analysis, bilateral arthroplasty was the only potential predictor for VTE after surgery.
Conclusion:
The rate of symptomatic VTE in a Saudi population following arthroplasty is low and comparable to the international data. However, efforts and more trials are needed to further improve in-hospital thromboprophylaxis measures.
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