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Abstract

Introduction: We aimed to identify the rate of symptomatic venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients under-going shoulder arthroplasty (SA) and to evaluate the role of possible associated risk factors.
Methods: The authors retrospectively reviewed all patients who underwent shoulder arthroplasty (SA) at the same institution between February 2010 and October 2021. Patients were included if they had a follow-up of at least 3 months and consented to inclusion in the study. The authors identified cases in which symptomatic VTE occurred in the 3 months following surgery. Exclusion criteria included previous surgeries within a 3-month period or the use of pharmacological prophylaxis for VTE.
Results: One hundred and three patients (average age 69.33 years; 31.7% male) were eligible for the study. Two cases of symptomatic VTE were identified, corresponding to a VTE rate of 1.94% (95% CI: 0.24% - 6.84%). Pre-disposing factors for VTE (history of neoplasm, previous VTE, family history of VTE, oral contraceptive therapy, hormone therapy, peripheral vascular disease, BMI > 30) were analyzed. The presence of these risk factors did not statistically correlate with VTE occurrence (Fisher’s exact test p = 0.113).
Conclusion: The results of this single-center retrospective study suggest that the incidence of symptomatic VTE after shoulder arthroplasty, in patients without routine pharmacological prophylaxis, is relatively low. However, due to the small number of events and inherent methodological limitations, these findings must be interpreted with caution. The selective use of pharmacological prophylaxis in high-risk patients may be reasonable, but larg-er prospective studies are needed to clarify the precise role of pharmacological prophylaxis in this population.