Plastic Surgery And VTE Assessment

If you are going to have any sort of plastic surgery you should make sure that your surgeon assesses your risk of developing a venous thromboembolism (VTE). This type of blood clot can be very dangerous and can form in the deep leg veins after surgery. These blood clots can form even if you haven't had various veins before.

Research

The latest research published in the November 2010 issue of Journal of the American College of Surgeons shows that some people who have plastic or reconstructive surgery are more likely to develop a VTE than others. If you develop deep vein thrombosis (DVT) you are at risk of getting a pulmonary embolism which is a blood clot in the lungs. This can also affect the heart and is potentially fatal.

Risk Assessment

Therefore, according to this research conducted by the University of Michigan Medical School, it is vital to have your surgeon conduct a Caprini Risk Assessment Model prior surgery. By assessing in advance your likelihood of developing a DVT prior to surgery, your surgeon can take preventative measures if you are more susceptible to developing these blood clots.

Although the University of Michigan surgeons assess all of their patients using the Caprini model before operating, it isn't yet standard practice throughout the country. In fact, only about half of other surgeons routinely do a pre-surgery risk assessment putting their patients at risk of developing these potential fatal blood clots.

High Risk Groups

The Caprini risk assessment model is very good at predicting a person's risk factor and shows that people with a score of 8 or more are at a much higher risk of developing blood clots up to two months after surgery. However, if preventative medicine is given within the two month window after surgery these blood clots can be prevented. In fact, the research showed that 1 in 9 patients are in this high-risk group. Patients with lower scores on the scale, if they are going to develop blood clots at all, develop the clots much earlier, usually within 2 weeks of the operation.

The risk factors include age, weight, the length of the surgery, family history and genetics, contraceptive use, pregnancy, leg fractures, as well as post operative complications and other traumas including having multiple operations.

Cosmetic Surgery

Given the number of plastic surgery operations that take place every year in the United States, you can see why it is important that doctors incorporate this type of risk factor assessment into their overall health care package.

So if you are contemplating having one of the 1.7 million cosmetic procedures or 5 million reconstructive procedures that take place every year in America, make sure that your surgeon assesses your risk factors for VTE. And of course make sure you get blood clot prevention medication if necessary. Even if you are at a low risk, don't ignore any postoperative blood clot symptoms. Make sure you have that follow up consultation with your surgeon or family doctor, report any worrying symptoms and get help if necessary.