RT Journal
A1 , 
T1 Preventing Venous Thromboembolic Disease in Patients Undergoing Elective Total Hip and Knee Arthroplasty
JF The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery
JO The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery
YR 2012
FD April 18
VO 94
IS 8
SP 673
OP 674
DO 10.2106/JBJS.9408edit
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.2106/JBJS.9408edit
AB 
Venous thromboembolic disease (VTED) can lead to multiple major complications and is the most common reason for readmissions following total knee arthroplasty1. These complications include symptomatic deep-vein thrombosis (DVT), bleeding (as a result of prevention or treatment interventions), and pulmonary embolus (PE), the latter of which is sometimes fatal. Although the incidences of symptomatic DVT and PE are low, the incidence of asymptomatic DVT has been estimated to be 20% to 40% in patients undergoing primary total hip and total knee arthroplasty2. Unfortunately, this risk of symptomatic VTED has remained static over the past twenty years. Thus, as the number of total hip and total knee arthroplasty procedures increases, a commensurate increase in the number of these complications can be anticipated. These facts underscore the tremendous importance of this topic in our field, in which close to one million joint arthroplasty procedures are being performed each year in the United States3.