Comparison of Chemical and Mechanical Prophylaxis of Venous Thromboembolism in Non-surgical Mechanically Ventilated Patients

Abstract

To compare the efficacy of mechanical and chemical prophylaxis in non-surgically mechanically ventilated patients in terms of reduction in mortality and length of hospital stay. A total of 200 patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) were recruited retrospectively. Half participants received mechanical prophylaxis and half received chemical prophylaxis. Patients with medical diseases with age 18 years or above, both genders, Pakistani nationals, receiving mechanical ventilation for more than 48 hours or receiving subcutaneous low molecular weight (LMW) heparin or subcutaneous unfractionated heparin were included. Cases who undergone surgery and were then admitted to ICU, those who received both mechanical and chemical therapies, and patients who received anticoagulant treatment before admission to ICU were excluded from the study. The patient’s age, gender, length of stay in ICU, and mortality were recorded in each group. Chi-square test was used to compare categorical data and Student t-test for continuous variables. The mean age was 55.51±8.37 years. The males were 108(54%) and females were 92(46%). The mortality rate was higher in the mechanical prophylaxis group (49%) than chemical (31%) statistically significantly (P=0.014). Similarly, the length of hospital stay was also higher in the mechanical prophylaxis group (7.27±0.897 days) than chemical (6.67±1.045) statistically (P<0.001). Chemical prophylaxis can reduce mortality and length of hospital stay more effectively than mechanical prophylaxis in ICUs admitted patients.

Prevalence of Venous Thromboembolism in Intensive Care Units: A Meta-Analysis

“…In this study, pharmacological prophylaxis was associated with lower prevalence of VTE, which might show that pharmacological prophylaxis was more effective than mechanical prophylaxis or use in both to prevent VTE. The results were similar to the existing research, which indicated that anticoagulants can effectively prevent blood hypercoagulability via the inhibition of thrombin and coagulation factors, and consequently prevent VTE [65]. As also found in previous studies, the SAPS II was associated with disease severity, and the higher the SAPS II score, the more serious the disease [66].…”

Prevenção De Complicações Pós-Operatórias Em Idosos

“…Outrossim, merece destaque a profilaxia farmacológica com drogas anticoagulantes, as quais, ao inibir a ação da trombina e fatores de coagulação, são capazes de prevenir a hipercoagulabilidade sanguínea e consequentemente o risco de TEV (AJMAL et al, 2021). De acordo com a Sociedade Americana de Hematologia, a terapia anticoagulante é recomendada para pacientes sem alto risco de sangramento, haja vista que estas drogas aumentam o risco de hemorragias (SCHÜNEMANN et al, 2018).…”