Symptomatic venous thromboembolism in orthognathic surgery and distraction osteogenesis: a retrospective cohort study of 4127 patients

Venous thromboembolism is a common postoperative complication, and orthopaedic procedures are particularly at risk. We designed a retrospective, single centre, observational, cohort study of 4127 patients (mean (SD) age 27 (11) years) who had elective orthognathic operations or distraction osteogenesis between January 1970 and February 2012 at the VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, to investigate the incidence in this group over the 42-year period, 2 patients developed symptomatic venous thromboembolism (1 woman had a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and 1 man had a DVT and pulmonary embolus) postoperatively. In relatively young patients with low to moderate risk factors and short hospital stay this type of operation is associated with a particularly low risk of developing thrombosis. It could be advisable to limit the use of thromboprophylaxis to patients at high risk or according to hospital guidelines.