BACKGROUND: Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a cause of preventable morbidity and mortality in hospitalized surgical patients. The occurrence of the disease is related to presence of risk factors, which are related primarily to trauma, venous stasis and hyper-coagulability. DVT seems not to be taken seriously by many surgeons in Nigeria. This is despite comprehensive studies that show no real differences in racial demography of the disease. OBJECTIVE: To highlight the importance of physician awareness about DVT especially its risks and prevention methods. METHODS: A detailed literature search was completed to extrapolate articles that described DVT risks and prevention. This involved hand and online searches. Specific search terms used included DVT/risk factors/prevention. The searches generated 468 papers. Of these 57 papers were included in the review. RESULTS