Preoperative Incidence of Deep Vein Thrombosis after Hip Fractures in Korean

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the incidence of preoperative deep vein thrombosis (DVT) after hip fractures in Korea.

In this prospective study, we enrolled 152 Korean geriatric patients who had suffered hip fractures due to a simple fall and were hospitalized between January 2013 and December 2013. There were 52 male and 100 female patients, and their mean age was 78.2 years. There were 96 trochanteric fractures and 56 femoral neck fractures. All patients were examined for DVT: 26 by ultrasonography and 126 by computed tomography venography. The patients having DVT underwent inferior vena cava filter insertion before the surgical intervention.

Preoperatively, none of the patients had any signs or symptoms of DVT; however, 4 patients were identified as having asymptomatic DVT. The overall incidence of DVT was 2.6% (4/152). The mean time to arrival at emergency room after injury was 32.6 hours. Mean time elapsed to undergo surgery after hospitalization was 24.9 hours. The average time to hospitalization after injury was 237 hours for patients with DVT versus 27.5 hours for patients without DVT. DVT developed within 72 hours in two of the 137 patients (1.4%) and after 72 hours in two of the remaining 15 patients (13.3%) hospitalized.

While the preoperative incidence of DVT after hip fractures was relatively low (2.6%) in the Korean geriatric population, we confirmed that getting no treatment within 72 hours after injury increased the incidence of DVT. Thus, we conclude from this study that a workup for DVT should be considered in cases where admission or surgery has been delayed for more than 72 hours after injury.