Appropriate chemoprophylaxis choice following arthroplasty requires accurate patient risk
assessment. We compared the results of our prospective department protocol to the Caprini
risk assessment model (RAM) retrospectively in this study group. Our goal was to determine
whether the department protocol or the Caprini score would identify venous thromboembolism
(VTE) events after total joint replacement. A secondary purpose was to validate the 2013
Caprini RAM in joint arthroplasty and determine whether patients with VTE would be
accurately identified using the Caprini score. A total of 1078 patients met inclusion
criteria. A Caprini score of 10 or greater is considered high risk and a score of 9 or
less is considered low risk. The 2013 version of the Caprini RAM retrospectively
stratified 7 of the 8 VTE events correctly, while only 1 VTE was identified with the
prospective department protocol. This tool provided a consistent, accurate, and
efficacious method for risk stratification and selection of chemoprophylaxis.
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