Incidence of venous thromboembolism in orthognathic surgery

Abstract

Introduction: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in surgical patients. This entity has well defined and described pathophysiological mechanisms, in addition to risk factors that allow a classification of patients according to different assessment models, which allow to adopt prophylactic measures. In maxillofacial surgery, low levels of incidence have been described. However, there is quite limited evidence and represents a health problem that has received little attention in the literature.

Objective: To determine the incidence of venous thromboembolism in patients undergoing orthognathic surgery.

Material and Method: Retrospectively, 86 patients who underwent orthognathic surgery was evaluated between October 2006 and January 2016 at the Hospital Clínico de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Two cases of pulmonary thromboembolism were identified, which corresponds to an incidence of 2.6%. Despite the low incidence of VTE in patients undergoing maxillofacial surgery, it is essential to consider the individual risk of the patient and the risk involved in surgery. The prolongation of surgical time, the hospital stay and prolonged immobilization can determine a greater risk of developing this type of complication, therefore it is necessary to consider it and know how to prevent it in an adequate way.