Thrombin antithrombin complex concentration as an early predictor of deep vein thrombosis after total hip arthroplasty and total knee arthroplasty

AIM: Early predictive markers of venous thromboembolism (VTE) after total hip arthroplasty (THA)/total knee arthroplasty (TKA) remain unclear. Our study identified early predictive markers for VTE after THA/TKA. METHODS: A single-institution retrospective review study was conducted between May 2020 and April 2022 (n = 256). All patients underwent Doppler ultrasounds exam in preoperation and seventh day after surgery. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) was defined by Doppler ultrasound of the lower extremities, which revealed thrombosis. Thrombin-antithrombin complex (TAT), thrombomodulin (TM), and plasmin-antiplasmin complex (PIC) concentration were tested from each patient’s preoperative and postoperative days 1, 4, 7, 14. These values were then accessed via receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and further quantified the level of this risk by concentration. RESULTS: On postoperative day 1 (pod-1), all patients’ TAT and PIC concentrations were significantly higher than those preoperatively (p < 0.05). The levels of TAT and PIC in patients in the DVT group on pod-1 were significantly higher than those in the non-DVT group (p < 0.05). At pod-1, the TAT concentration for DVT patients was 49.47 ng/mL compared to 20.70 ng/mL for non-DVT patients, PIC was 3.72μg/mL compared to 1.65μg/mL. ROC curve analysis demonstrated that a TAT concentration of 24.3 ng/mL had a sensitivity of 87.9% and a specificity of 69.1%. CONCLUSION: TAT levels on pod-1 may predict DVT early after THA/TKA, which makes it possible for early intervention to decrease the incidence of DVT.