Incidence of inferior vena cava thrombosis detected by transthoracic echocardiography in the immediate postoperative period after adult cardiac and general surgery

Venous thromboembolism is an important complication after general and cardiac surgery. Using transthoracic echocardiography, this study assessed the incidence of inferior vena cava (IVC) thrombosis among a total of 395 and 289 cardiac surgical and major surgical patients in the immediate postoperati...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Anaesthesia and intensive care Vol. 41; no. 6; pp. 782 - 787
Main Authors:	Saranteas, T, Kostopanagiotou, G, Tzoufi, M, Drachtidi, K, Knox, G M, Panou, F
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Sage Publications Ltd 01-11-2013
Subjects:	Adult Aged Aged, 80 and over Cardiac Surgical Procedures - statistics & numerical data Cohort Studies Female Humans Incidence Male Postoperative Complications - diagnostic imaging Postoperative Period Risk Factors Supine Position Surgical Procedures, Operative - statistics & numerical data Thrombosis - diagnostic imaging Ultrasonography Vena Cava, Inferior - diagnostic imaging cardiac surgery inferior vena cava thrombosis echocardiography
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Summary:	Venous thromboembolism is an important complication after general and cardiac surgery. Using transthoracic echocardiography, this study assessed the incidence of inferior vena cava (IVC) thrombosis among a total of 395 and 289 cardiac surgical and major surgical patients in the immediate postoperative period after cardiac and major surgery, respectively. All transthoracic echocardiography was performed by a specialist intensivist within 24 hours after surgery with special emphasis on using the subcostal view in the supine position to visualise the IVC. Of the 395 cardiac surgical patients studied, the IVC was successfully visualised using the subcostal view in 315 patients (79.8%) and eight of these patients (2.5%) had a partially obstructive thrombosis in the IVC. In 250 out of 289 (85%) general surgical patients, the IVC was also clearly visualised, but only one patient (0.4%) had an IVC thrombosis (2.5 vs 0.4%, P <0.05). In summary, visualisation of the IVC was feasible in most patients in the immediate postoperative period after both adult cardiac and major surgery. IVC thrombosis appeared to be more common after adult cardiac surgery than general surgery. A large prospective cohort study is needed to define the risk factors for IVC thrombus and whether early thromboprophylaxis can reduce the incidence of IVC thrombus after adult cardiac surgery.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0310-057X 1448-0271
DOI:	10.1177/0310057x1304100614