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VENOUS THROMBOSIS IN A SURGICAL WARD RESULT OF A SURVEY USING DIAGNOSTIC ULTRASOUND
Author(s) -
Little J. M.
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1971.tb92409.x
Subject(s) - medicine , thrombosis , incidence (geometry) , venous thrombosis , deep vein , doppler ultrasound , diabetes mellitus , lower limbs venous ultrasonography , surgery , vascular disease , physics , optics , endocrinology
A Doppler ultrasonic flow detector has been used to determine the incidence of deep‐vein thrombosis in a general surgical ward. The incidence was shown to be 30.6% among all patients whether they came to surgery or not. The age at greatest risk was between 60 and 70 years, but the patients suffering thromboses were not significantly older than the remainder. Cardio‐vascular disease, active inflammatory states, biliary disease, endocrine disorders (particularly diabetes), metabolic disorders demonstrated by standard biochemical screening tests, obesity, and hæmorrhage requiring transfusion were all noted among these patients, but no single disorder appeared to carry a significantly higher risk of venous thrombosis. Abdominal operations and those involving the legs carried high risk. Patients who stayed more than 20 days in hospital had a highly significant increase in the incidence of venous thrombosis, and it is suggested that long‐stay patients may constitute an especially high risk group. Only eight of the 37 thrombotic episodes were detected clinically. Among the five patients in whom pulmonary emboli were detected, only one had clinically obvious disease. in the other patients, the venous thrombosis was diagnosed by the Doppler flow detector, either before the embolic episode or at the time of its occurrence.