Prevention of venous thromboembolism in body contouring surgery: a national survey of 596 ASPS surgeons.

Abstract

INTRODUCTION:

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) has been identified as a major public health issue. Postbariatric body contouring surgery represents a major challenge for VTE prophylaxis due to the presence of multiple risk factors and broad areas of dissection that potentially increase the risk of postoperative bleeding.

AIM:

To define current VTE prophylaxis practices among surgeons of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, performing postbariatric body contouring surgery in the United States.

MATERIAL AND METHODS:

A total of 4081 surveys were sent to registered members of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons by e-mail. We received 596 (14.6%) responses.

RESULTS:

A total of 596 surgeons returned completed surveys, with 83% of respondents in private practice and 17% in academic practice. Deep venous thrombosis (DVT) was reported by 40% surgeons, pulmonary embolism (PE) by 34%, and 7% had at least 1 patient having died of a postoperative PE. About 39% to 48% participant surgeons reported providing no chemoprophylaxis to their postbariatric body contouring patients. The most common reason for not using routine prophylaxis was the concern for bleeding (84%), followed by lack of evidence specific to plastic surgery practice (50%). Academic surgeons were more likely to provide chemoprophylaxis when compared with those in nonacademic practice (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION:

For postbariatric body contouring surgery, DVT has occurred in over one-third of plastic surgeons' practices with 7% of surgeons reporting a patient death from PE. A substantial proportion of surgeons performing postbariatric body contouring are not using chemoprophylaxis due to bleeding risk and perceived lack of evidence. VTE prophylaxis in postbariatric body contouring remains a topic that deserves further study.

• Authors: Julio A Clavijo-Alvarez, Christopher J Pannucci, Adam J Oppenheimer, Edwin G Wilkins, J Peter Rubin
• Journal: Annals of plastic surgery (Ann Plast Surg) Vol. 66 Issue 3 Pg. 228-32 (Mar 2011) ISSN: 1536-3708 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 21200311 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Anticoagulants

Topics

• Anticoagulants (therapeutic use)
• Attitude of Health Personnel
• Bariatric Surgery (adverse effects, statistics & numerical data)
• Humans
• Postoperative Complications (epidemiology, etiology, prevention & control)
• Practice Patterns, Physicians' (statistics & numerical data)
• Surveys and Questionnaires
• Thromboembolism (epidemiology, etiology, prevention & control)
• United States (epidemiology)
• Venous Thrombosis (epidemiology, etiology, prevention & control)