Incidence and Risk Factors Associated with Post Tibial Plateau Fracture Deep Venous Thrombosis: A Prospective Cohort Study

Objective: The purpose behind this study was to determine the incidence and risk factors associated with post tibial plateau fracture deep venous thrombosis (DVT)

Materials and Methods: A prospective study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital, Indus Medical College & Hospital, Tando Muhammad Khan to recruit those patients who were undergoing orthopedic surgeries during the periods of eighteen months. All the adult patients of both gender planned for surgery due to tibial plateau fracture were enrolled under this study. Duplex ultrasound was performed to detect the presence of underlying postoperative DVT. Post-operatively patients were assessed for potential risk factors associated with higher incidence of DVT.

Results: For the final analysis, 344 patients were included among them majority were males (n = 219, 63.66%) with overall mean age and SD was 47.52±12.02 years. The most common cause of fracture was road traffic accident (n = 178, 51.74%). The overall incidence of post-operative DVT observed in our study was 9.30% (n = 32). Mean age 40.19±6.10 years, increased mean duration of operation 3.01±.078 hours, increased mean duration of post-hospitalization 18.49±7.37 days, raised mean WBC counts 20.12±5.64, and increased mean D-dimer levels 3.24±3.09 (laboratory cut off value 0.5mg/L) were significantly associated with higher incidence of DVT in patients operated for tibial plateau fractures.

Conclusion: This prospective analysis has identified the potential modifiable risk factors associated with DVT. Consideration should be given to the preventable and treatable risk factors to prevent from the DVT associated complications.