241 Is There a Role for Empirical Treatment of Orthopaedic Patients with Suspected, but Not Confirmed, VTE in the Post-Operative Period?

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Major surgery, including major orthopaedic surgery, is a key risk factor for developing venous thromboembolism (VTE). This poses a challenge in the post-operative phase when considering initiation of therapeutic-dose anticoagulation for suspected VTE due to the risk of major bleeding. Method A search strategy was developed with inclusion criteria involving all studies relating to the treatment of suspected VTE in the post-operative orthopaedic patient. Journal articles predating 3rd June 2021 were searched for in Medline, Embase and PubMed. Titles and s were reviewed based on clinical relevance. Results 56 articles were generated using this search strategy. 22 results were excluded as conference papers and/or case reports. Title and review of the remaining 34 studies did not identify any relevant articles reporting outcomes. Conclusions No evidence is available to guide recommendations for the empirical treatment of suspected VTE in the post-operative orthopaedic patient prior to a confirmed VTE diagnosis. This is therefore a risk-benefit clinical decision to be undertaken based on individual patient factors. Current American College of Chest Physicians guidelines advise initiation of anticoagulation for suspected acute VTE in cases with a high clinical suspicion, or intermediate clinical suspicion with expected delay in diagnostic imaging for at least 4 hours. However, this does not apply to patients following recent surgery who are at increased risk of bleeding post-operatively. Empirical systemic treatment dose anticoagulation for VTE in the post-operative period should therefore only be initiated when timely image-based diagnosis cannot be achieved.