Postoperative Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis by General Surgeons in a Developing Country : A Survey

• Published in: Thrombosis 2013-01, Vol.2013 (2013), p.1-5
• Main Authors: Santhosh, Shivashankar, Venkataram, Aniketh, Dinakar, Deevish, Siddappa, Shivananda, Babu, Rajashekara, Shivaswamy, Sadashivaiah
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2090-1488; 2090-1496
• DOI: 10.1155/2013/873750

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.