Preventing Venous Thromboembolism in Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery

Publication:

Surgical Technology International XVI - Cardiovascular Surgery

Article title:

Author(s)

Girish Mood, M.D.
Associate Staff
Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

W. H. Wilson Tang, M.D., F.A.C.C.
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland Ohio, USA

Abstract

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) has proven to be one of the major causes for increasing morbidity among general medical and surgical patients. VTE may have a major role after cardiac surgery by increasing morbidity related to hospital stay, economic burden, discharge planning, complications associated with anticoagulation therapy, and mortality when it ends as a fatal pulmonary embolism (PE). However, patients who undergo cardiac procedures or surgeries pose unique challenges in prevention and treatment of VTE. Clinical diagnosis is always difficult in these patients due to non-specific symptoms or because the patient is asymptomatic. Among the cardiology and cardiac surgery population, thrombosis risk appears to be inherent as a result of multiple co-morbidities as well as direct trauma to the vasculature. Prevention of VTE by prophylactic measures remains the most economical and effective method in current clinical practice. However, many modalities used for VTE prophylaxis have been restricted to the general surgical orthopedic population and can be difficult to apply, especially in patients following cardiac surgery.