Silent Pulmonary Thromboembolism in Patients Undergoing Craniotomy for Brain Tumor

To detect the silent pulmonary thromboembolism (SPTE) frequency in patients who underwent craniotomy for a brain tumor, and to examine the correlation based on the data obtained from patients.

Overall, 100 patients with brain tumors were included in the study. The mean age was 54.29 years (±12.5 years), with the youngest patient being 19 years old and the oldest 73 years. All patients underwent craniotomy, and a pulmonary ventilation-perfusion scintigraphy was performed 48 h after surgery to detect SPTE. The frequency of SPTE and the conditions related to it were investigated.

The incidence of SPTE was 26% in patients with a brain tumor who underwent craniotomy. Statistically, no correlation was observed between SPTE and data obtained from patients (tumor histopathology, tumor localization, perilesional edema, midline shift, bleeding time, surgical positioning, smoking history, age, duration of surgery, etc.).

Our study revealed a high rate of SPTE in patients with a brain tumor who underwent craniotomy. Although most articles suggest using anticoagulant therapy in these patients, the literature lacks definite evidence for the same.