Interní Med. 2009; 11(10): 458-462

Prevention of venous thromboembolism

MUDr. Jaromír Gumulec^1,2

¹ Centrum pro trombózu a hemostázu při Onkologickém centru J. G. Mendela, Nový Jičín

² Ústav klinické hematologie a Hemato-onkologické a transfuzní centrum FN Ostrava

Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism are a major health problem with potentially fatal sequelae. The risk of venous thromboembolism

increases with advancing age, and it has been confirmed that most hospitalized patients have at least one risk factor for

venous thromboembolism. When there is no thromboprophylaxis, the incidence of objectively confirmed, hospital-acquired deep vein

thrombosis in internal medicine and general surgery patients is approximately 10 to 40 percent, and in patients undergoing elective

orthopaedic procedures it is 40 to 60 percent. Furthermore, primary thromboprophylaxis, using low-dose unfractionated heparin, lowmolecular-

weight heparin, or fondaparinux, has been shown to reduce the risk of venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism and to

increase the occurrence of severe haemorrhage only slightly, if at all. Non-administration of adequate thromboprophylaxis may therefore

be considered as non lege artis procedure.

Keywords: heparin, low-molecular-weight heparin, fondaparinux, compression stockings, intermittent pneumatic compression, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, prevention.

Published: November 1, 2009  Show citation