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Prevalence of venous thromboembolism after lung surgery in China: a single-centre, prospective cohort study involving patients undergoing lung resections without perioperative venous thromboembolism prophylaxis†

Chunfeng Song, Y. Shargall, Hui Li, B. Tian, Shuo Chen, Jin-Bai Miao, Yi-Li Fu, B. You et al.

European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, 2018

48 citations

Abstract

OBJECTIVES

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a common postoperative complication. Previous studies have shown that the incidence of VTE after major thoracic surgery ranges from 2.3% to 15%. However, there have been no such data from China so far. To evaluate the incidence of postoperative VTE, we conducted a single-centre, prospective cohort study.

METHODS

Patients who underwent lung resections between July 2016 and March 2017 were enrolled in this study. None of the patients received any prophylaxis perioperatively. All patients were screened for deep venous thrombosis (DVT) using non-invasive duplex lower-extremity ultrasonography 30 days before surgery and within 30 days after surgery and before discharge. Chest tomography, pulmonary embolism protocol was carried out if patients had one of the following conditions: (i) typical symptoms of pulmonary embolism, (ii) high Caprini score (≥9 points) and (iii) newly diagnosed postoperative DVT.

RESULTS

Two hundred and sixty-two patients undergoing lung surgery were enrolled, including 115 benign and 147 malignant disease cases. The procedures included 84 sublobar lung resections, 161 lobectomies, 5 pneumonectomies and 12 mixed procedures. The overall postoperative incidence of VTE was 11.5% (30 of 262). Twenty-four patients were diagnosed with DVT (80.0%) and 6 with DVT + pulmonary embolism (20.0%). None of the patients diagnosed with VTE had obvious symptoms of VTE. The median time for VTE detection was 5 days postoperatively.…

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Evidence Hub reads this as a cohort study, done in people. Its evidence level is 3 of 5 (Moderate · trial / cohort / secondary analysis). Trials without a large randomized design, cohorts and secondary analyses give moderate evidence.

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