Objectives To determine the prevalence of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism after an extensive cytoreductive surgery for ovarian or fallopian tube cancer, the associated risk factors and to suggest preventive measures pre- and postoperatively to reduce these risks.

Methods A retrospective study was conducted at Hôtel-Dieu de France University Hospital and included all patients older than 16 years and receiving a cytoreductive surgery for ovarian, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancer between 2004 and 2017.

Results 123 patients were included. Mean age was 55 years. The prevalence of postoperative thromboembolic events in the studied population was 8.9%. Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism were found in 6.5% and 4.1% of cases respectively. A correlation was found between the presence of venous catheter and the occurrence of thromboembolic events with a p value = 0.035 (OR = 4, IC [1.019–16.197]).Also, partial colectomy with anastomosis, cholecystectomy and appendectomy were found to be risk factors (0.001, 0.021 and 0.045 respectively). We found a correlation between hospital and intensive care stay and the duration of immobilization as well as a correlation between weight and hospital stay (p value= 0.02). Date of initiation of postoperative thromboprophylaxis was related to the amount of intraoperative bleeding (p = 0.024).

Conclusions Avoiding the placement of central venous catheter, reducing the patient weight preoperatively, encouraging the early mobilization, reducing the hospital stay as well as stay in intensive care unit, controlling and limiting the intra- and postoperative bleeding are measures that contribute to reduction of risk of thromboembolic events occurrence.