Incidence of Pulmonary Embolism in Surgical Patients: Hospital-based

Abstract

Venous thromboembolism has become a major concern due to its association with reduced survival and considerable economic burden. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the incidence, risk factors, and survival in surgical patients. This was a retrospective study conducted at the Department of Surgery in Khon Kaen University Hospital (Thailand). All patients who were admitted to the surgical unit and diagnosed as having pulmonary embolism between 2007 and 2015 were consecutively enrolled. There were 85 surgical patients diagnosed with pulmonary embolism for over 10 years. The most common presentation is tachycardia. All patients were assessed with Caprini score; 95% has high risk but none of them have received VTE prophylaxis. The median survival time is only 50 days after diagnosing pulmonary embolism. Our study demonstrates that the reported incidence of pulmonary embolism is increasing and that PE is associated with higher mortality; therefore, surgical patients should receive VTE prophylaxis when Caprini scoring was high.