ArticlePlastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open2024
An Effective Protocol for Perioperative Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis in DIEP Flap Breast Reconstruction: A Single Institution Retrospective Review.
Article in Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 3 citations in OpenAlex.
- Venous thromboembolism prophylaxis regimen for patients undergoing deep inferior epigastric perforator flap breast reconstruction.JPRAS open · 2026Article
- Continuous administration of heparin during free flap surgery for head and neck tumors reduces the risk of pulmonary embolism.Oral and maxillofacial surgery · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Deep inferior epigastric artery perforator (DIEP) free flap breast reconstruction is one of the most highly used procedures for autologous breast reconstruction. Many venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk assessment models have been proposed in breast reconstructive surgery, including the widely used Caprini score. However, a paucity of data suggests an effective standardized VTE protocol. The purpose of this study was to determine the rate of VTE in our DIEP flap patients who were treated with this protocol. Methods: A retrospective single-center review of DIEP flap breast reconstruction from 2016 to 2021 was performed. Data were collected on 554 patients and 893 flaps including demographics, intraoperative and perioperative details, and postoperative course. Patients who were not treated with our standard protocol were excluded. Data were analyzed with alpha = 0.05. Results: The average age was 50.4 ± 9.9 years, and the total follow-up time was 16.9 ± 12.6 months. The average body mass index for the cohort was 30.1 ± 5.2. During the 90 postoperative days, the mean length of hospital stay was 4.3 days. There were six cases of postoperative VTE: five patients presented with pulmonary embolism (0.9%) and one patient (0.2%) had deep venous thrombosis with an overall VTE prevalence of 1.1%. No specific single factor could be attributed to VTE occurrence. Conclusions: Using our standardized VTE prophylaxis protocol, our institution was effective at keeping VTE rates low. Additional studies would be beneficial to determine optimal VTE prophylaxis protocols in higher-risk patients, such as those with known clotting disorders.
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Registered trials
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