• L Lee, N C Liew, and T Gee.
• Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Putra, Malaysia. limilee@medic.upm.edu.my
• Int Angiol. 2012 Dec 1;31(6):526-33.

AimThis survey was conducted to determine the opinions and practices of peri-operative venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis among surgical and intensive care specialists in Asia.MethodsA set of questionnaire was distributed to surgeons and intensivists from different countries in Asia. The specialties included were general surgery and its sub-specialties, orthopaedic surgery, gynaecological surgery and intensive care unit. This survey involved teaching institutions, general hospitals and private hospitals. To gauge if the respondents were from hospitals that would likely encounter VTE cases, the hospital's bed-strength, intensive care facility and sub-specialty services were recorded. Over a period of six months, questionnaires and feedbacks were collected and analyzed.ResultsOne hundred and ninety-one responses were received from 8 countries throughout Asia. Fifty-six percent of these were from large hospitals (800 bedded or more) and 62% of these hospitals have large intensive care facility (20 or more beds). Only half of the respondents practice routine thromboprophylaxis in moderate and high risk surgeries. Thirty six percent of them practices selective thromboprophylaxis and only 3% do not believe in any thromboprophylaxis. A third prescribed thromboprophylaxis for 3 to 5 days; another third extended it until patient is mobile. About 48.6% of the respondents do not have VTE guidelines in their institutions. Majority of the respondents agreed that more evidence is needed in the form of multi-centre randomized controlled trials to influence their decision on thromboprophylaxis.ConclusionDespite the availability of strong epidemiological data, randomized controlled trials and multicentre case-controlled studies, perioperative VTE prophylactic practices are still suboptimal in Asia.

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