(434) Risk of Venous Thromboembolism in the Neurotology Patient

Introduction: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a leading cause of preventable hospital death in the United States. Sudden death is the first symptoms in approximately one-quarter of patients with VTE. Many factors including recent surgical intervention increase the risk of VTE. There is no universal guideline for VTE prophylaxis in the field of neurotology. This study seeks to evaluate current rates of VTE amongst the neurotologic patient population. This study also presents a proposed VTE prophylaxis protocol and call to arms for development of a uniformed guideline.

Methods: A retrospective review of operative neurotology patients from July 1, 2016 to December 31, 2022 was performed at an urban tertiary referral center. A review of the literature and metanalysis of VTE in the neurotologic patient population additional was performed.

Results: An institutional VTE rate of 0.2 % VTE event over the 6.5 years study period was observed. This was approximately one-tenth of the rate observed from review of the literature and meta-analysis. There was no observed increased rate of post-operative hemorrhage institutionally with a 6.5 year rate of 0.2%.

Conclusions: A comprehensive institutional protocol for VTE prophylaxis in the neurotology patients was found to be associated with a lower rate of VTE than previously reported in the literature without increase in observed post-operative hemorrhages. This highlights the importance of and need for development of a standardized, universal comprehensive protocol for VTE prophylaxis in the neurotology patient population.