Blood clots that form most often in the leg are a concern after surgery. This is one reason why nurses try to get patients up and about as soon as is possible after surgery. For those who can’t, they usually have their legs exercised for them and they may have to wear special compression stockings.The biggest danger from these types of clots, called deep vein thrombosis (DVT), is that they can break away from the vein wall and travel to the lungs, where they become pulmonary emboli. A pulmonary embolus can cause death if it’s not treated quickly.
Researchers in the United Kingdom used records of 947,454 middle aged women from the Million Women Study to check for admissions for surgery, how many developed a DVT and/or a pulmonary embolus after surgery, and how many died as a result. They found that of 239,614 surgeries (90,259 as inpatients), 5,419 had a blood clot and 270 died. This was compared to the average one clot in 6,200 women who didn’t have surgery.They also found that although the risk of DVT and PE differed depending on the type of surgery, overall, it increased within the first 12 weeks after surgery:
- 1 in 45 after hip or knee replacement
- 1 in 85 after cancer surgery
- 1 in 815 after day surgery
The results should be a wake-up call for surgeons. It used to be thought that the chances of developing a blood clot rose about 20% or so after surgery, but these findings show that it really is almost 70 times higher.The article was published yesterday in the on-line issue of BMJ.
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Post from: Blisstree