Incidence and outcomes of thromboembolic events in plastic surgery infirmary patients

Introduction: This study was developed to determine the incidence and outcome of thromboembolic events in a plastic surgery infirmary. Methods: In a retrospective study, using the hospital's software of statistics and database, we selected the patients admitted to the plastic surgery infirmary of Hospital Sao Joao, Porto- Portugal, from 2006 to the end of 2015. Using software diagnosis codification that is the same as the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9), we selected patients that suffered a deep venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolism and reviewed their medical records - collected the number of patients submitted to abdominoplasty, head and neck cancer patients, and breast cancer patients. Results: Of the 10,473 patients of the data set, nine patients were diagnosed with a venous thromboembolism (VTE) event, leading to a rate of 0.09% over the 10 years. During that period, 1728 abdominoplasties were performed, and there were three cases of VTE (0.17%); 338 head and neck cancer patients, three VTE events (0.9%), and one VTE (0.2%) in 506 breast cancer patients. Conclusion: This study suggests that in plastic surgery, VTE risk assessment and corresponding prophylaxis cannot be neglected.