Incidence and risk factors predicting deep venous thrombosis of lower extremity following spinal fractures

The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of preoperative DVT following spinal fracture and the association between the presence of DVT and risk factors. Ultrasonography and blood analyses were performed preoperatively in patients diagnosed with spinal fracture between October 2014 and December 2018. Univariate analyses were performed on the data of demographics, comorbidities, location of injury, spinal cord injury (SCI) grading and laboratory biomarkers. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was employed to obtain the optimal D-dimer cut-off value for diagnosis. In total, 2432 patients with spinal fractures were included, among whom 108 (4.4%) patients had preoperative DVTs. The average interval between fracture and initial diagnosis of DVT was 4.7 days (median, 2 days), ranging from 0 to 20 days; 78 (72.2%) were diagnosed within 7 days after injury and 67 (62.0%) within 3 days; 19 (17.5%) patients had proximal vein involved and 89 (82.4%) presented in distal veins. Multivariate logistic regression suggested six risk factors independently correlated to DVT, including delay to DUS (in each day) (odds ratio [OR]=1.11), ASA class III-IV (OR=2.36), ASIA grade (A/B) (OR=2.36), ALB<3.5 g/dL (OR=2.08), HDL-C<1.1 mmol/L (OR=1.68) and d-Dimer>1.08 mu g/ml (OR=2.49).

Automated summary

This study aimed to investigate the presence of preoperative deep vein thrombosis (DVT) following spinal fractures and identified six independent risk factors associated with DVT, including delayed ultrasound, ASA class, ASIA grade, serum albumin level, HDL-C level, and D-dimer level. The optimal D-dimer cut-off value for diagnosis was found to be 1.08 μg/ml.