This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Low re-admission rate reported for PE and DVT after ankle fracture surgery

Add topic to email alerts

Receive an email when new articles are posted on

Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on .

Subscribe

Added to email alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

Back to Healio

We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.

Back to Healio

DENVER — Investigators comparing population-based data reported low overall re-admission rates for pulmonary embolism and deep venous thrombosis after ankle fracture surgery in a recent study.

The research also identifies patient risk factors for thromboembolic disease.

Using the patient discharge database for California, which records all inpatient admissions and tracks re-admissions, Nelson Fong SooHoo, MD, and colleagues identified 57,183 patients who underwent open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) for an ankle fracture within the state during an 11-year period.

SooHoo presented the results of the investigation at the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society 24th Annual Summer Meeting, here.

The investigators discovered a 0.34% re-admission rate for pulmonary embolism (PE) and a 0.05% re-admission rate for deep venous thrombosis (DVT) within 90 days of surgery.

Using multivariate logistic regression models to identify potential patient factors associated with an increased risk for thromboembolic disease, the investigators discovered that patients with increased comorbidity, those with preoperative open fractures and those aged 50 to 75 years were at an increased risk of being re-admitted for PE.

Similarly, patients aged 50 to 75 years and those with peripheral vascular disease had an increased risk of re-admission for DVT.

“I would like to point out that there are significant limitations anytime that you look at this type of data and they need to be carefully considered and re-evaluated with the results of a study like this,” SooHoo said during his presentation.

He noted that the type of thromboprophylaxis used in the patients was unknown. Despite this limitation, he said the study provides clinically relevant implications.

“I think that we have provided a different prospective that probably confirms previous case series reporting an overall rate of PE that is quite low following ankle fractures,” he said. “We also identified some specific patient factors that might put patients at risk.

“I think this suggests, perhaps, that a reasonable approach to thromboprophylaxis would not be the routine use of thromboprophylaxis but the selective use and heightened vigilance in specific patient groups at risk, including the elderly, those with more severe injuries and those with multiple comorbidities,” SooHoo said.

For more information:

• SooHoo NF, Eagan M, Gurbani B, et al. Incidence and risk factors for deep venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism following surgical treatment of ankle fractures. Presented at the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society 24th Annual Summer Meeting. June 26-28, 2008. Denver.