Safety and Efficacy of Extended Postdischarge Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis in Microsurgical Breast Reconstruction

Discharging patients on extended postoperative venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis is trending in microsurgical breast reconstruction (MBR). This study investigated contemporary bleeding and thromboembolic complications after MBR and reported postdischarge enoxaparin outcomes. METHODS: The PearlDiver database was queried for MBR patients who did not receive postdischarge VTE prophylaxis (cohort 1) and MBR patients discharged with enoxaparin for at least 14 days (cohort 2), then queried for hematoma, deep venous thrombosis (DVT), and/or pulmonary embolism. Concurrently, a systematic review was undertaken to identify studies investigating VTE with postoperative chemoprophylaxis. RESULTS: In total, 13,541 patients in cohort 1 and 786 patients in cohort 2 were identified. The incidence of hematoma, DVT, and pulmonary embolism were 3.51%, 1.01%, 0.55% in cohort 1, and 3.31%, 2.93%, and 1.78% in cohort 2, respectively. There was no significant difference in hematoma between these two cohorts (P = 0.767); however, a significantly lower rate of DVT (P < 0.001) and pulmonary embolism (P < 0.001) occurred in cohort 1. Ten studies met systematic review inclusion. Only three studies reported significantly lower VTE rates with postoperative chemoprophylaxis. Seven studies found no difference in bleeding risk. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study utilizing a national database and a systematic review to investigate extended postoperative enoxaparin in MBR. Overall, rates of DVT/PE seem to be declining compared with previous literature. The results of this study suggest that there remains a lack of evidence supporting extended postoperative chemoprophylaxis, although the therapy appears safe in that it does not increase bleeding risk.