Abstract 5243

Background:

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) which includes deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) is a common complication of major surgery. Little is known of the risk of recurrent VTE following postoperative VTE.

Objectives:

We used the administrative health claims (RAMQ) and hospital discharge (MED ECHO) databases of Quebec, Canada to conduct a population-based retrospective cohort study to describe the time to VTE following general surgery and to assess the risk of VTE recurrence among patients with surgery-provoked VTE.

Methods:

Using a previously defined cohort of individuals who had a first-time discharge diagnosis of VTE between January 1996 and December 2004 in MED ECHO, which systematically records information on all hospital admissions in the province of Quebec, we identified patients who had undergone major surgery in the 3 months prior to the VTE. Subjects were followed from the time of incident VTE until first VTE recurrence, death, or end of study (December 31, 2005).

Results:

Our study population consisted of 9629 patients with new VTE up to 3 months following major surgery. The mean age was 63.9 years (SD=15.2) and 53% were female. General surgery (32%) was the most common procedure. The mean time to VTE after surgery was 29.5 days (SD=62.6) with 30% of events diagnosed after discharge. The 5-year adjusted cumulative risk of recurrence was 7.9%. Patients with VTE diagnosed after discharge had an adjusted relative risk of recurrence of 1.43 (95% confidence interval (1.21, 1.69)) compared to patients with VTE diagnosed before discharge.

Conclusions:

Our results suggest that surgery-provoked VTE occurs frequently after discharge and is associated with an elevated risk of recurrence, and that patients with post-discharge VTE are at a higher risk of recurrence than patients with VTE diagnosed before discharge. Thromboprophylaxis strategies post-discharge should be considered in this population.

Disclosures:

Tagalakis:Sanofi Aventis: Research Funding; Pfizer: Research Funding.

Topics:
recurrence risk, surgery specialty, surgical procedures, operative, venous thromboembolism, deep vein thrombosis, echocardiography, hospital admission, patient discharge, postoperative care, pulmonary embolism

Author notes

*

Asterisk with author names denotes non-ASH members.

© 2011 by The American Society of Hematology
2011
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