[Prophylaxis of venous thromboembolism in otolaryngology--head and neck surgery]

Venous thromboembolic disease (deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism) is a frequent and dangerous complication of surgical procedures. Guidelines considering prophylaxis in patients who have a risk of this complication exist in most surgical specialties. In otolaryngology it is a rare illness but a lack of Polish literature and quite few world publications on this subject made the authors check through the literature referring to venous thromboembolic disease in otolaryngology and maxillofacial surgery and indexed in the EMBASE and MEDLINE data bases up till 2003. Incidence of the disease, risk factors with regard to the kind of surgery and prophylaxis methods were presented, all with the aim of creating a kind of a guide useful in clinical practice in ENT.