Venous thromboembolism in bariatric surgery patients: an update of risk and prevention

Venous thromboembolism (VTE), which manifests as deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE), is the leading cause of preventable death after surgery for morbid obesity [1-5]. Although the incidence of PE after bariatric surgery does not appear to be rising, given the rapid growth in the number of operations being performed, it follows that postoperative fatal PE is no longer a rare event [3]. We reviewed the risk of developing postoperative VTE in bariatric surgery and describe strategies for perioperative thromboprophylaxis.