title: [Is the incidence of postoperative pulmonary thromboembolism in Japan lower than that in the western countries?].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Japanese Society of Anesthesiologists (JSA) has investigated the incidence of postoperative pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) for several years.
  
  
  METHODS
  According to the JSA project, we surveyed the annual incidence of postoperative PTE in Kanazawa Medical University Hospital in 2008.
  
  
  RESULTS
  PTE was diagnosed radiographically in 6 out of 2339 patients, who were > or =15 years of age and had undergone surgical procedures under general anesthesia. The incidence was 0.257% and approximately tenfold that reported by the JSA. All the patients were subjected to lower extremity surgery. Two patients went into shock after they had first walked postoperatively. Symptoms of the other four patients were nonspecific but surgeons in charge suspected PTE.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data suggest that the actual incidence of postoperative PTE in Japan may be far greater than that reported by the JSA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Kanazawa Medical University, Ishikawa 920-0293.
authors.forename: Ayuko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Magara
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamaoka
authors.forename: Yuriko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Murata
authors.forename: Miharu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shiraishi
authors.forename: Hideaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tsuchida
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000453:epidemiology*