Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Oct;56(3):368-374.
doi: 10.1007/s11239-023-02863-1. Epub 2023 Jul 15.

A majority of trauma-related deep venous thromboses resolve prior to discharge

William A Marshall  1 , Ana G Dumitru  2 , Sophie H Chung  2 , William A Johnston  2 , Kendra M Black  2 , Laura M Adams  2 , Allison E Berndtson  2 , Todd W Costantini  2 , Jessica L Weaver  2
Affiliations
Review

A majority of trauma-related deep venous thromboses resolve prior to discharge

William A Marshall et al. J Thromb Thrombolysis. 2023 Oct.

Abstract

Post-traumatic DVTs present unique challenges in patient populations with specific high-risk injury patterns. Duplex ultrasound (US) can be used to assess evolution of DVTs and may guide treatment for high-risk patients. We hypothesized that many DVTs resolve during the initial admission. Weekly duplex US are ordered on all trauma inpatients regardless of prior DVT at our facility. We reviewed US and outcomes data on all patients with lower extremity DVTs at our Level I trauma center from January 2012-December 2021. 392 patients were diagnosed with lower extremity DVT by US. 261 (67%) patients received follow-up US with a mean time to repeat US of 6 days. Of these, 91 (35%) patients experienced DVT resolution prior to the first follow-up US, and 141 (54%) patients experienced resolution prior to discharge. Mean time to resolution was 10 days. Over 50% of DVTs resolve before discharge and are detected by US. Further studies and post-discharge follow-up are needed to determine if patients with resolved DVTs can be managed without therapeutic anticoagulation.

Keywords: Anticoagulation; Chemoprophylaxis; Deep venous thrombosis; Trauma.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Ruskin KJ (2018) Deep vein thrombosis and venous thromboembolism in trauma. Curr Opin Anaesthesiol 31(2):215–218. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACO.0000000000000567 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Rappold JF, Sheppard FR, Carmichael Ii SP et al (2021) Venous thromboembolism prophylaxis in the trauma intensive care unit: an american association for the surgery of trauma critical care committee clinical consensus document. Trauma Surg Acute Care Open 6(1):e000643. https://doi.org/10.1136/tsaco-2020-000643 - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. Geerts WH, Code KI, Jay RM, Chen E, Szalai JP (1994) A prospective study of venous thromboembolism after major trauma. N Engl J Med 331(24):1601–1606. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJM199412153312401 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Heit JA, Spencer FA, White RH (2016) The epidemiology of venous thromboembolism. J Thromb Thrombolysis 41(1):3–14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11239-015-1311-6 - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. Walker CK, Sandmann EA, Horyna TJ, Gales MA (2017) Increased enoxaparin dosing for venous thromboembolism prophylaxis in general trauma patients. Ann Pharmacother 51(4):323–331. https://doi.org/10.1177/1060028016683970 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources