CAIRO - Venous blood clots (vein thromboembolism or VTE) occurs in 40-60 per cent of patients who are undergoing major orthopaedic surgery, say medical experts. If left untreated, these clots may prove fatal, according to orthopaedists. Professor of orthopaedic surgery Dr Gamal Hosni says that as many as 75 per cent of patients with bone fractures may suffer from clots, especially pulmonary embolism (PE - a blood clot that blocks a vessel in the lung). PE may also prove fatal, because of its direct effect on the heart. “Also 80 per cent of patients having a knee replacement subsequently suffer from blood clots,” he adds. According to Dr Hosni, up to 14 per cent of patients who recover following orthopaedic surgery have to return to hospital because they develop blood clots, which often break away and travel through the bloodstream, blocking the blood flow to vital organs. Dr Hosni says that a patient who has just had a total knee replacement (TKR) should spend at least ten days in hospital, in case he develops a blood clot in a deep vein, usually in the leg. About 70 per cent of such cases don't show any symptoms and the patient can suddenly die of the blood clot. “Venous blood clots are difficult to diagnose as up to half of patients have either no symptoms or no specific symptoms. Preventing venous blood clots in the first place is the most economic and effective approach,” says Dr Hosni, adding that new therapies can help doctors prevent the potentially lethal effects of venous blood clots. According to Dr Ashraf el-Nahal, a professor of orthopaedic surgery at Cairo University, the new therapies are a huge step forward in blood clot prevention and will save lives. Healthy patients undergoing major orthopaedic surgery, such as total knee or hip replacements, are at risk of venous blood clots, due to factors like vascular damage. These patients may not realise how critical the risk is. Venous blood clots don't simply disappear because a patient has left hospital. “In fact, according to a recent study, 74 per cent of 1,897 patients with venous blood clots developed these clots in an outpatient setting,” explains Professor el-Nahal. “VTE causes 300,000 deaths in the United States and over 500,000 deaths in Europe every year. In the EU, more than twice as many people die from VTE than AIDS, breast cancer, prostate cancer and transportation accidents combined. The EU spends over 3 billion euros per year, caring for such patients.” "New therapies to prevent the lethal effects of venous blood clots are a great breakthrough,” according to Dr Patrick Mouret, an orthopaedic surgeon from Frankfurt/Hoechst in Germany. “Surgical patients seem to be at higher risk than medical patients, while PE is a leading cause of in-hospital death.”
