Not only are blood clots after surgery much more likely than previously thought, they're a risk much longer after surgery, according to new research. A new study, which appears in BMJ, examined data on almost 1 million women in the U.K., tracking their progress for an average of 6.2 years after surgery.
It concluded that one out of every 140 women having surgery who required a hospital stay was readmitted for venous thromboembolism within 12 weeks of a procedure. When broken down into specific surgery types, hip and knee replacements were the most risky, with one in 45 women experiencing this complication; cancer surgery patients followed closely at one in 85.
Just how bad are the results above? Well, women who didn't have surgery faced a one in 6,200 chance of having a venous thrombosis episode within a 12 week period.
Researchers say that these results point to the need to use clot-preventing drugs longer after surgery, up to months beyond the procedure date if need be.
Learn more about the study:
- read this HealthDay News piece
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