ABSTRACT

Venous tromboembolism (VTE) is a very important cause of morbidity and mortality in clinics. Despite the improvement in the diagnosis and management, there is not a consensus reached on the prophylaxis of the VTE. The aim of this study is to investigate the patients who were hospitalizated and diagnosed with pulmonary embolism (PE) according to age, gender, the incidence among clinics, hospital stay, optimal prophylaxis time and risk factors of VTE.

From January 2007 to February 2008, 124 patients diagnosed with pulmonary embolism were included into our study. The patients were assessed according to the criteria mentioned above.

Patients’ mean age was 48(36-80), 84 of whom were women and 40 were men. The incidence among clinics was as follows; general surgery 18 (14.5%), orthopedics 37 (29.8%), internal medicine 19 (15.4%) and oncology 50 (40.3%). There was not any significant difference between age, gender and hospital stay. 30 (24.1%) out of 124 patients clearly had pulmonary embolism. When these 30 patients were examined, 24 (80%) of them were recognized as not having had prophylaxis.

As seen in our study, most of the patients applying to hospitals diagnosed with PE had not been given suitable prophylaxis. Therefore, we think that VTE prophylaxis is as important as the VTE diagnosis and treatment.

Keywords: Venous tromboembolism, prophylaxis, pulmonary embolism