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VTE Prophylaxis in General and Orthopedic Surgery

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Precision Anticoagulation Medicine

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Abstract

Venous thromboembolism prophylaxis in the context of general and orthopedic surgery is part of the basic standard of care and is integrated in most hospital policies.

The choice of prophylaxis is dependent on the balance between the thrombotic risks of the procedure and intrinsic patients’ thrombotic risks and the risk of bleeding. The choice varies from mechanical methods to pharmacologic ones with low-dose unfractionated heparin, low-molecular-weight heparins, pentasaccharide, parenteral direct thrombin inhibitors, or direct oral anticoagulants.

Many guidelines have been developed tailored to the different clinical scenarios.

The duration of anticoagulation remains an issue of debate, but once more guidelines are helping to alight thromboprophylaxis practice.

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Abbreviations

ACCP:

American College of Chest Physicians

BMI:

Body mass index

DOACs:

Direct oral anticoagulants

ES:

Elastic stockings

GCS:

Graduated compression stockings

IPC:

Intermittent pneumatic compression devices

LDUH:

Low-dose unfractionated heparin

LMWH:

Low-molecular-weight heparin

NOACs:

Non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants

THR:

Total hip replacement

TKR:

Total knee replacement

VFP:

Venous foot pump

VKA:

Vitamin K antagonist

VTE:

Venous thromboembolism

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hematology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

    Ahmed Abdulgawad

  2. Saskatoon Cancer Centre, Saskatoon, SK, Canada

    Vinita Sundaram

  3. Alain Blair Cancer Centre and College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Regina, SK, Canada

    Ibraheem Othman

  4. Saskatoon Cancer Centre, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada

    Hadi Goubran

Authors
  1. Ahmed Abdulgawad
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  2. Vinita Sundaram
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  3. Ibraheem Othman
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  4. Hadi Goubran
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ahmed Abdulgawad .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Saskatoon Cancer Centre College of Medicine University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada

    Hadi Goubran

  2. Faculty of Medicine Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

    Gaafar Ragab

  3. College of Human Medicine Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Suzy Hassouna

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Abdulgawad, A., Sundaram, V., Othman, I., Goubran, H. (2020). VTE Prophylaxis in General and Orthopedic Surgery. In: Goubran, H., Ragab, G., Hassouna, S. (eds) Precision Anticoagulation Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25782-8_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25782-8_10

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