Mustafa Citak1, Till Orla Klatte1,2, Eduardo M Suero3, Johannes Lenhart1, Thorsten Gehrke1, Daniel Kendoff1. 1. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Helios ENDO-Klinik Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany. 2. Department of Trauma, Hand and Reconstructive Surgery, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany. 3. Department of Trauma Surgery, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The advent of international medical travel has resulted in many patients travelling abroad to seek medical attention at foreign institutions. However, it is not known whether long-haul flights further increase the risk of VTE in patients who are to receive a joint replacement. OBJECTIVES: We performed this retrospective cohort study to analyze if patients with preoperative air travel with a flight time more than four hours are at higher risk for VTE development following total knee or total hip athroplasty (THA) compared to patients without preoperative travel. METHODS: Between January 2007 and December 2012, 245 patients were treated with either a primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA) or total hip arthroplasty (THA) with preoperative air travel with a flight time more than 4 hours at our institution. One-hundred fifty five patients (n= 87 THA and n= 68 TKA) out of 245 patients met the inclusion and exclusion criteria and were included in this study. A total of 187 patients (n= 92 THA and n= 95 TKA) without bus, air or car travel longer than 30 minutes met the inclusion and exclusion criteria and were included in this study as controls. RESULTS: Patients with preoperative air travel were not at higher risk for VTE development compared to patients without preoperative air travel following TKA (HR = 0.95; 95%CI = 0.14-6.52). Gender (HR = 0.41; 95%CI = 0.05-3.56) and age (HR = 3.77; 95%CI = 0.63-22.37) did not influence the VTE development in TKA patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our study results show that preoperative air travel do not further increase the risk of VTE after TKA and THA.
BACKGROUND: The advent of international medical travel has resulted in many patients travelling abroad to seek medical attention at foreign institutions. However, it is not known whether long-haul flights further increase the risk of VTE in patients who are to receive a joint replacement. OBJECTIVES: We performed this retrospective cohort study to analyze if patients with preoperative air travel with a flight time more than four hours are at higher risk for VTE development following total knee or total hip athroplasty (THA) compared to patients without preoperative travel. METHODS: Between January 2007 and December 2012, 245 patients were treated with either a primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA) or total hip arthroplasty (THA) with preoperative air travel with a flight time more than 4 hours at our institution. One-hundred fifty five patients (n= 87 THA and n= 68 TKA) out of 245 patients met the inclusion and exclusion criteria and were included in this study. A total of 187 patients (n= 92 THA and n= 95 TKA) without bus, air or car travel longer than 30 minutes met the inclusion and exclusion criteria and were included in this study as controls. RESULTS:Patients with preoperative air travel were not at higher risk for VTE development compared to patients without preoperative air travel following TKA (HR = 0.95; 95%CI = 0.14-6.52). Gender (HR = 0.41; 95%CI = 0.05-3.56) and age (HR = 3.77; 95%CI = 0.63-22.37) did not influence the VTE development in TKA patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our study results show that preoperative air travel do not further increase the risk of VTE after TKA and THA.
Entities:
Keywords:
Deep vein thrombosis; air travel; long-haul flight; total hip arthroplasty; total knee arthroplasty
Authors: Holger J Schünemann; Mary Cushman; Allison E Burnett; Susan R Kahn; Jan Beyer-Westendorf; Frederick A Spencer; Suely M Rezende; Neil A Zakai; Kenneth A Bauer; Francesco Dentali; Jill Lansing; Sara Balduzzi; Andrea Darzi; Gian Paolo Morgano; Ignacio Neumann; Robby Nieuwlaat; Juan J Yepes-Nuñez; Yuan Zhang; Wojtek Wiercioch Journal: Blood Adv Date: 2018-11-27