Venous Thromboembolism in Patients Undergoing Shoulder Arthroscopy: Findings From the RECOS Registry

The incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) after hip and knee major surgery without prophylaxis ranges from 29% to 60% for deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and from 1% to 3% for fatal pulmonary embolism (PE)1-3; consequently, thromboprophylaxis in this clinical setting is strongly recom- mended by experts and international consensus guidelines.3 Conversely, limited information is available on the rate of VTE complications and thromboprophylaxis use in other orthopae- dic surgeries, such as shoulder arthroscopy.4 To the best of our knowledge, the incidence and risk factors for VTE in shoulder arthroscopy haven’t been investigated in prospective epide- miological studies. Some independent, retrospective, obser- vational studies and case series have reported a quite low VTE rate in shoulder arthroscopy5-12; moreover, a few infor- mation is available on the safety and efficacy of thrombopro- phylaxis in this setting. Thus, current guidelines on the prevention of VTE in patients undergoing orthopedic surgery do not have a specific recommendation for those undergoing shoulder arthroscopy.3Here, we report the results of the RECOS registry in the spe- cific group of patients undergoing shoulder arthroscopy.