Postoperative venous thromboembolism prophylaxis by general surgeons in a developing country: a survey.
Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is the most common preventable cause of hospital death. Several audits in the west have demonstrated that appropriate thromboprophylaxis is not being offered to a large number of surgical patients. Similar audits are lacking in the Indian population, and a perception exists among Indian surgeons that Indian patients are not susceptible to VTE. Hence we undertook a survey to analyze the existing knowledge and practice of VTE prophylaxis amongst general surgeons in India. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted on 100 active general surgeons. We found that 97% of surgeons had encountered VTE in their practice, and 49% had encountered mortality from pulmonary embolism. 64% of surgeons do not routinely score patients preoperatively for their VTE risk, and only 33% reported the presence of an institute-based protocol for the same. There was a wide disparity in the prophylaxis methods used for each risk group, particularly in the moderate-risk group. These findings suggest the need for adoption of institute-based protocols for prophylaxis and the evolution of Indian guidelines for VTE prophylaxis.
Department of General Surgery, Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, No. 182, 100 Feet Ring Road, Banashankari 3rd Stage, Bangalore 560085, India.
Aniketh
A
Venkataram
Shivashankar
S
Santhosh
Deevish
D
Dinakar
Shivananda
S
Siddappa
Rajashekara
R
Babu
Sadashivaiah
S
Shivaswamy