Deep Vein Thrombosis in the Uninjured Lower Extremity: A Retrospective Study of 1454 Patients With Lower Extremity Fractures

The purpose of this study was to identify patients at higher risk of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in the uninjured lower extremity both preoperatively and postoperatively in patients with lower extremity fractures. We collected the clinical data of patients with lower extremities fractures who presented at Xi’an Honghui Hospital between 1 July, 2015 and 31 October, 2017. Doppler ultrasonography was used to diagnose the DVT. Patients were examined pre- and postoperatively. The patients were divided into thrombosis group and no thrombosis group according to the preoperative and postoperative ultrasonography results. The thrombosis group was defined as patients with DVT in the uninjured lower extremity and the no thrombosis group was defined as patients without DVT in the uninjured lower extremity. This study enrolled 1454 patients who met the inclusion criteria. The incidence of preoperative DVT in the uninjured lower extremity was 9.63% whereas the postoperative incidence was 20.29%. Age (OR = 0.965, 95 CI%: 0.954-0.977; P ≤ 0.001) and female (OR = 0.667, 95% CI: 0.451-0.986, P = 0.042) were independent risk factors for preoperative DVT in the uninjured lower extremity. Blood loss (OR = 0.997, 95 CI%: 0.995-1.000; P = 0.020), D-dimer level at admission (OR = 0.941, 95 CI%: 0.887-0.999; P = 0.045), and postoperative day 5 D-dimer level (OR = 0.889, 95 CI%: 0.819-0.965; P = 0.005), were independent risk factors for postoperative DVT in the uninjured lower extremity. For the patients with lower extremity fractures, age and female were associated with the preoperative DVT in the uninjured lower extremity. Blood loss, D-dimer at admission and postoperative day 5 D-dimer were associated with the postoperative DVT in the uninjured lower extremity.