title: Low-dose heparin for prevention of venous thromboembolism in total hip arthroplasty and surgical repair of hip fractures.
abstract: Sixty-seven hip-arthroplasty and fifty-two hip-fracture patients participated in a placebo-controlled randomized double-blind study on the effects of low-dose heparin prophylaxis in the prevention of venous thromboembolism. In this study, a positive thromboembolic event meant a positive test by: (1) daily 125I-fibrinogen scanning, (2) contrast venography on the tenth postoperative day, or (3) radionuclide perfusion lung scan in confirmation of suspected clinical pulmonary emboli. Nineteen (59.4 per cent) of thirty-two placebo-treated arthroplasty patients showed evidence of a thromboembolic event in contrast with eight (22.9 per cent) of thirty-five heparin-treated patients (p less than 0.003). Heparin-treated arthroplasty patients required mean blood transfusions of 4.7 units, contrasted with a mean 3.2-unit transfusion requirement for placebo-treated patients (p less than 0.05). The incidence of observed bleeding complications was higher among the heparin-treated patients. Of the twenty-three placebo-treated patients with fracturs, 39.1 per cent had a thromboembolic event, while 41.4 per cent of the twenty-nine who received heparin showed evidence of thromboembolism, demonstrating that low-dose heparin afforded no protection, nor did it affect the incidence of bleeding complications or transfusion requirements in fracture patients.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001178:Arthroplasty; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D005260:Female; D005265:Femoral Neck Fractures / Q000601:surgery*; D006493:Heparin / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006621:Hip Joint / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010919:Placebos; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012306:Risk; D013923:Thromboembolism / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013924:Thrombophlebitis / Q000517:prevention & control*
chemical_list: D010919:Placebos; D006493:Heparin