You are here

Article Text

Article menu
Download PDFPDF
Surgeons Corner
Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis for Laparoscopic Surgery: A Survey of Members of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology
  1. Michael J. Worley, MD*,
  2. J. Alejandro Rauh-Hain, MD†,
  3. Evelien M. Sandberg, BS* and
  4. Michael G. Muto, MD*
  1. *Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital; and
  2. †Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Vincent Obstetrics and Gynecology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA.
  1. Address correspondence and reprint requests to Michael G. Muto, MD, 75 Francis St, Boston, MA 02115. E-mail: mmuto{at}partners.org.

Abstract

Objective This study aimed to evaluate the use of venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis for laparoscopic surgery among members of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO).

Methods A 23-item questionnaire was sent to all working/eligible SGO member e-mail addresses (n = 1356). Data were collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics. χ2 was used to determine differences in responses between groups.

Results Of the 287 (21.2%) responding SGO members, most (61.3%) estimated the risk of VTE for laparoscopic surgery between 1% and 2%. Most (51.2%) of respondents did not routinely use preoperative pharmacoprophylaxis, and most discontinued prophylaxis upon hospital discharge, regardless of benign (73.5%) or malignant (53.3%) pathology. Combination prophylaxis was preferred for procedures in the setting of intermediate- (50.2%) or high-complexity (78%), malignancy (70.7%), obesity (71.4%), multiple medical comorbidities (76%), or the elderly (64.5%). When compared with respondents of greater surgical volume, respondents who performed less than 5 laparoscopic cases per month were more likely to use sequential compression devices alone in the setting of malignancy (52.6%, P = 0.025). The omission of VTE prophylaxis was rare and varied depending on the patient scenario (0.7%–3.5%). When compared with younger respondents, those who were 61 to 70 years old more frequently omitted VTE prophylaxis in the setting of low-complexity procedures (22.2%, P = 0.003), obesity (11.1%, P = 0.021), multiple medical comorbidities (11.1%, P = 0.008), and the elderly (11.1%, P = 0.009).

Conclusions Among SGO members, the preferred method of VTE prophylaxis during laparoscopic surgery for several high-risk patient scenarios was combination prophylaxis. The use versus nonuse and the preferred method of VTE prophylaxis were influenced by respondent age and surgical volume.

  • Venous thromboembolism
  • Laparoscopy
  • Prophylaxis
  • Surgery

https://doi.org/10.1097/IGC.0b013e318275c266

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    Footnotes

    • The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

    • Supplemental digital content is available for this article. Direct URL citation appears in the printed text and is provided in the HTML and PDF versions of this article on the journal’s Web site (www.ijgc.net).