ABSTRACT
Antithrombotic prophylaxis has become virtually routine in certain perioperative settings, especially for hospital inpatients judged to be at medium or high risk for thrombosis. In low-risk situations, such as minor operations in healthy outpatients, the need for antithrombotic prophylaxis is not uniformly well established. According to the guidelines of 18 surgical societies (AWMFLeitlinien, 2003):
In case of leg trauma, the grade of measures for thrombosis prophylaxis depends on the severity of the trauma, the degree of immobilization, the duration for healing, and on individual risk factors for thrombosis. For each patient immobilized by trauma, the measures for thrombosis prophylaxis have to be adjusted individually based on a benefit (prophylaxis of thrombosis) to risk (bleeding, HIT) consideration. To date, early mobilization is most effective. In patients with recent trauma and/or lower limb surgery involving immobilization of a joint, pharmacologic thrombosis prophylaxis is recommended, especially in case of additional risk factors for thrombosis.
