Traumatic spine fractures and concomitant venous thromboembolism: A systematic review

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) associated with bony fractures have been documented in the literature. However, the literature is not very exhaustive when it comes to VTE associated with traumatic spine fractures. Thus the purpose of this systematic review analyzing the incidence of VTE associated with spinal trauma.

An electronic search strategy was elaborated in Pubmed, Cochrane Library and Google Scholar (page 1-20) since inception till November 2023.

Twelve studies were included with three prospective clinical studies, seven retrospective studies, one observational cohort study, and one propensity-matched analysis. These involved 256,107 subjects with 6039 concomitant VTE (2.4 %). Potential risk factors included age, D-dimer levels, length of hospital stay, associated spinal cord injury, location of the vertebral trauma and other baseline patient-dependent characteristics.

This review found that the rate VTE in spinal trauma patients was 2.4 % (6039/256107). To optimize care, clinical decision making should be tailored to each patient using a combined approach of imaging, laboratory findings, and serial physical examinations.