Venous thromboembolism prevention in the acutely ill medical patient: a review of the literature and focus on special patient populations.

Although venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a major public health problem, until recently, our understanding of the risk of VTE in hospitalized acutely ill medical patients has been incomplete. Fortunately, over the past 5 years, there has been an increasing body of literature that highlights the risk of VTE in the nonsurgical patient, identifies unique patient-risk factors, and defines adequate preventative measures. This review highlights the current literature with regard to epidemiology of VTE in hospitalized medical patients and the risk-stratification of these patients and deals with optimal preventative regimens and prevention strategies in special patient groups.