The Risk Factors for Preoperative and Postoperative Deep Vein Thrombosis in Surgical Patients

Objective: This paper investigated the risk of preoperative and postoperative deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in surgical patients.Methods: The sample consisted of 377 patients of the general surgery, orthopedics and traumatology, neurosurgery, and cardiovascular surgeryclinics of a university hospital. Data were collected using a demographic characteristics questionnaire, the Deep Vein Thrombosis DiagnosticCriteria Form, the Autar Deep Vein Thrombosis Risk Assessment Scale, the Caprini Risk Assessment Model, and the Padua Prediction Score. Thedata were analyzed using descriptive analysis.Results: According to the Autar Deep Vein Thrombosis Risk Assessment Scale, most participants were in the “low risk” category in thepreoperative period (91%), and more than a quarter of the participants were in the “high risk” category in the postoperative period (30%).According to the Caprini Risk Assessment Model, less than half of the participants were in the “moderate risk” group in the preoperativeperiod (39%), and more than half the participants were in the “high risk” group in the postoperative period (70.6%). According to the PaduaPrediction Score, most participants were in the “low risk” category in the preoperative period (82.2%), and more than half the participants werein the “high risk” group in the postoperative period (52.8%). More than half the participants who used graduated compression stocks in thepreoperative period misused them (62.7%). A bit more than half the participants who used graduated compression stocks in the postoperativeperiod used them correctly.Conclusion: The results show that surgical patients are at a higher risk for deep vein thrombosis in the postoperative period than in thepreoperative period.