[Current status of postoperative venous thromboembolism]

Venous thromboembolism has been a common illness even in Japan and gets increased social as well as medical attention, especially during postoperative period. The most effective way of reducing unexpected death from postoperative venous thromboembolism is to institute a comprehensive institutional policy of primary prophylaxis in patients at risk. Since the clinical experience has shown that there are ethnic differences between Japanese and westerners in coagulability, it will be inappropriate to assume that the results of western studies are fully applicable to the clinical situation in Japan. Although it is difficult to prepare the guideline for prophylaxis of venous thromboembolism based on reliable evidence for Japanese currently, available epidemiologic information has been obtained in orthopedic or gynecologic fields.