title: Prevalence of venous thromboembolism in elective thoracic surgery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) after elective thoracic surgery in patients receiving antithrombotic prophylaxis, and to evaluate the risk of pulmonary embolism (PE) after lung resection.
  
  
  METHODS
  A descriptive, cross-sectional, retrospective study was designed. A total of 6004 patients were included. All patients underwent elective thoracic surgery. Prophylactic antithrombotic therapy was standardised in all cases. Patients were divided into four groups (low, moderate, high and very high) according to their thrombotic risk. The prevalence of VTE, deep vein thrombosis and PE in each group was calculated. The odds of PE for pneumonectomy was also calculated and compared to lobectomy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eleven patients (0.18%) had postoperative VTE. The mean age of this subset was 65.95 years; 90.9% were diagnosed with malignant neoplasm. Some 80.8% of patients in the series and all VTE cases were included in the high risk VTE group. VTE was more common in pneumonectomy (45.45% of VTE cases, odds ratio 4.6 compared to lobectomy).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of VTE in this series was 0.18% (1.31% in pneumonectomy patients). These figures could serve as reference values for thromboembolic disease in general thoracic surgery.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Cirugía Torácica, Hospital Universitario de Salamanca, Salamanca, España. mteresa.gomez.hernandez@gmail.com
authors.forename: María Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Gómez-Hernández
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Pérez
authors.forename: Nuria
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Novoa-Valentín
authors.forename: Marcelo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jiménez-López
authors.forename: José Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Aranda-Alcaide
authors.forename: Gonzalo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Varela-Simó
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000359:Aftercare / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D017558:Elective Surgical Procedures; D005260:Female; D005343:Fibrinolytic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006495:Heparin, Low-Molecular-Weight / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000556:secondary / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011013:Pneumonectomy / Q000379:methods; D011182:Postoperative Care / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011292:Premedication; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D053828:Stockings, Compression / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019616:Thoracic Surgical Procedures; D019851:Thrombophilia / Q000150:complications; D054556:Venous Thromboembolism / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D005343:Fibrinolytic Agents; D006495:Heparin, Low-Molecular-Weight