What's new in VTE risk and prevention in orthopedic surgery

A State of the Art lecture titled "What's New in VTE Risk and Prevention in Orthopedic Surgery" was presented at the ISTH congress in 2019. Patients undergoing orthopedic surgery have long been recognized to be at increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) and were among the first patient groups to be studied in VTE prophylaxis trials. From the late 1950s to 2010s, prophylaxis trials in major orthopedic surgery tended to focus on venographic deep vein thrombosis and assessed thromboprophylaxis in all patients based on a population approach. In general, anticoagulants were favored over mechanical prophylaxis or aspirin, and longer-duration prophylaxis was favored over shorter durations. As discussed in this paper, more recently, orthopedic prophylaxis has started to become more nuanced and individualized. Modern trials are focusing on symptomatic VTE as outcomes; there has been a resurgence in interest in aspirin for prophylaxis, and there has been a slow move to studying ways to evaluate VTE risk in patients undergoing orthopedic surgery and recommending thromboprophylaxis to patients based on individual attributes, in whom risk stratification and weighing of benefit versus risk of thromboprophylaxis is becoming key. We also touch on VTE risk and guideline recommendations to prevent VTE in 2 other commonly encountered orthopedic populations: patients undergoing knee arthroscopy and those with distal leg fractures. Finally, we summarize relevant new data on this topic presented during the 2019 ISTH annual congress in Melbourne.