[Systematic preoperative phlebography in patients with leg injuries, surgically treated after a delay]

Post-traumatic preoperative deep vein thrombosis (DVT) was studied by routine bilateral venography in 98 orthopaedic patients admitted more than 48 h (mean: 7 days) after the limb trauma, who had not been given prophylactic anticoagulation. All these patients had undergone long distance travel under medical supervision, having been injured a long way from the medical centre. Ages ranged from 15 to 77 years (mean age: 38 years). 85 patients had been previously free of any of the usual risk factors for DVT. Routine venography showed up DVT in 39 patients (40%). Four DVT were bilateral; only seven were symptomatic. When DVT was proved, heparin treatment by infusion pump was given for 15 days before surgery was performed.