title: The risk of venous thromboembolism in ENT and head & neck surgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Venous thromboembolic disease (VTD) includes deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE), thus is one of the most feared postoperative complications developed by patients at any surgical department, because of high morbidity and mortality associated with it.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a retrospective study including all patients operated on at the Otolaryngology Head and Neck Department (tertiary hospital) between January 2009 and December 2013.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 9007 surgical procedures were performed, including 7150 elective surgeries under general anesthesia, with 2127 on children and 5023 on adults. A total of 1989 patients had oncological head and neck surgery, eight cases had VTE complications, which represents 0.08% of patients. All of those complicated cases had head and neck cancer (8/1989 = 0.4%) and belonged to the group of scheduled surgeries under general anesthesia (8/7150 = 0.1%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The incidence of DVT and PE in ENT and head and neck surgery appears to be lower than in other surgical specialties. Oncological surgery of the head and neck, usually associated with other risk factors, appears to increase the risk of VTD.
authors.affiliation: Otorhinolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery Department, University Hospital of Vigo1; Vigo; Province: Pontevedra; Spain.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chiesa Estomba
authors.affiliation: Otorhinolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery Department, University Hospital of Vigo1; Vigo; Province: Pontevedra; Spain.
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rivera Schmitz
authors.affiliation: Otorhinolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery Department, University Hospital of Vigo1; Vigo; Province: Pontevedra; Spain.
authors.forename: Carla Cristina
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Ossa Echeverri
authors.affiliation: Otorhinolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery Department, University Hospital of Vigo1; Vigo; Province: Pontevedra; Spain.
authors.forename: Frank Alberto
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Betances Reinoso
authors.affiliation: Otorhinolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery Department, University Hospital of Vigo1; Vigo; Province: Pontevedra; Spain.
authors.forename: Alejandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Osorio Velasquez
authors.affiliation: Otorhinolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery Department, University Hospital of Vigo1; Vigo; Province: Pontevedra; Spain.
authors.forename: Carmelo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Santidrian Hidalgo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D013517:Otorhinolaryngologic Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013923:Thromboembolism / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D020246:Venous Thrombosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology