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Updated: May 18, 2026

Point-Of-Care Ultrasound Screening for Proximal Lower Extremity Deep Venous Thrombosis
Published on: February 10, 2023
Deep venous thrombosis prophylaxis in body contouring: 105 consecutive patients
Richard G Reish1, Branimir Damjanovic, Amy S Colwell
1Division of Plastic Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Abstract:
Body contouring has a higher rate of thromboembolism than traditional plastic surgery procedures. Although risk stratification protocols exist, few offer specific therapeutic guidelines for deep venous thrombosis prevention. This single surgeon series classifies 105 consecutive patients into low, moderate, high, and highest risk groups. The respective thromboembolism prevention treatment included pneumatic compression devices alone, postoperative low-dose unfractionated heparin (LDUH), preoperative and 2 doses of postoperative LDUH, and preoperative and postoperative LDUH/low-dose molecular weight heparin for 7 days. Complications included 1 reoperation for bleeding. There were no clinically detected deep venous thromboses. In conclusion, this treatment algorithm for thromboembolism prevention results in a low rate of bleeding and thrombosis. Further studies are warranted to determine optimal timing and duration of chemoprophylaxis in plastic surgery patients.
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