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Int J Angiol
DOI: 10.1055/s-0044-1791544
Letter to the Editor

Preventable Hospital Admission-associated VTE: Thoughts on Thromboprophylaxis as Asians

Esan Saciin D. Maran   *
1   Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, 10 Medical Dr, Singapore
,
Chaozer Er    *
2   Department of General Medicine, Woodlands Health, 17 Woodlands Dr 17, Singapore
,
Sandeep Gohar
3   Department of General Medicine, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, 90 Yishun Central, Singapore
,
Thofique Adamjee
3   Department of General Medicine, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, 90 Yishun Central, Singapore
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Abstract

Previous studies surveying senior and junior doctors have shown that thromboprophylaxis was not commonly practiced in hospitalized medical patients in three public hospitals in Singapore. We, therefore, conducted an audit of our hospital's venous thromboembolism (VTE) clinic cases to study the proportion of preventable hospital admission-associated VTE (HAAVTE). All newly diagnosed VTE cases referred to our VTE clinic from March 2023 to December 2023 were reviewed, to identify those potentially associated with recent hospital admissions. We then reviewed the medical records of those cases to see if thromboprophylaxis was prescribed if indicated. HAAVTEs that had high VTE risk and did not receive appropriate thromboprophylaxis (pharmacological or mechanical) were considered preventable HAAVTE. Thirteen cases of HAAVTEs were identified, out of which only one was given the appropriate thromboprophylaxis. The proportion of preventable HAAVTE was 92.3%. Thromboprophylaxis is not widely practiced in our hospital. More effort is required to improve local thromboprophylaxis practice for hospitalized patients to reduce the burden of preventable HAAVTE.

Keywords

anticoagulation - prophylaxis - venous thromboembolism - DVT - prevention

* These authors contributed equally to the manuscript.




Publication History

Article published online:
01 October 2024

© 2024. International College of Angiology. This article is published by Thieme.

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