Open AccessDoes Previous Varicose Vein Surgery Alter Deep Vein Thrombosis Risk after Lower Limb Arthroplasty?
Author(s) -
Dua Anahita,
Neiva Santiago,
Sutherland Alasdair
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
orthopaedic surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.666
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1757-7861
pISSN - 1757-7853
DOI - 10.1111/os.12003
Subject(s) - medicine , deep vein , surgery , orthopedic surgery , pulmonary embolism , thrombosis , arthroplasty , varicose veins , cohort
Objective To determine the rates of deep vein thrombosis ( DVT ) and pulmonary embolism ( PE ) after total knee arthroplasty ( TKA ) and total hip arthroplasty ( THA ) in patients who have had previous varicose vein ( VV ) surgery. Methods Data on 57,364 patients who had undergone THAs and 51,859 patients who had undergone TKAs were obtained from the S cottish Arthroplasty Project and cross‐referenced with patients for whom DVT / PE events had been recorded ( S cottish M orbidity D atabase). Results The THA DVT rate in patients who had previously undergone VV surgery was 0.8% (27/3478), and in those with no previous VV diagnosis or surgery was 0.8% (428/53,659). In patients with a previous VV diagnosis but no VV surgery, the THA DVT rate was 3.1% (7/227) ( P earson χ 2 test, χ 2 = 14.8, degrees of freedom = 2, P = 0.001). No significant difference was found for the corresponding data in the TKA cohort. The THA PE rate in patients who had previously undergone VV surgery was 0.7% (26/3478), and in those with no previous VV diagnosis or surgery 0.7% (376/53,659). No correlation was found between prior VV interventions and PE rates. Conclusion Untreated VV s are associated with an increased risk of DVT after THA . Therefore, patients with VV s should consider having them treated prior to undergoing orthopedic interventions.