In patients undergoing surgery for hip fracture, fondaparinux was more effective than enoxaparin in preventing venous thromboembolism and equally safe.

Prophylactic efficacy and safety of a low molecular weight (LMW) heparin against postoperative thromboembolic complications were investigated in a double-blind, randomized study. Totally, 210 consecutive patients undergoing total hip replacement were allocated to two groups. Patients in the heparin group received 50 IU anti-Xa per kilo body weight of Logiparin once daily, and patients in the placebo group received one daily injection of saline. Additional prophylaxis in all the patients was thigh-length compression stockings beginning on the day of the operation. Deep vein thrombosis was diagnosed by bilateral ascending phlebography between Days 8 and 10 after the operation. Twenty patients were excluded from the evaluation. Thirty of 93 patients in the heparin group compared with 45 of 97 patients in the placebo group suffered a thromboembolic complication during the study (P = 0.02). The postoperative blood loss and total number of blood transfusions in the heparin group were higher than in the placebo group. However, the observed differences were of no clinical importance. Adverse effects, including bleeding complications and wound hematomas, were observed in 13 heparin patients and 7 placebo patients (NS). One patient in each group died. Thrombo-prophylaxis with LMW heparin once daily was safe and more effective than the placebo in patients undergoing total hip replacement.

SummaryA prospective study compared real-time B-mode ultrasound examination with bilateral ascending phlebography in the diagnosis of postoperative deep vein thrombosis in 60 patients undergoing elective total hip replacement. The overall sensitivity and specificity of the ultrasound method were 54 and 91%, respectively, and the positive and negative predictive values were 83 and 69%, respectively. The rather low overall sensitivity of the ultrasound method in this study was due to difficulty in detecting thrombi smaller than 1 cm wherever they were located in the deep veins, and in diagnosing thrombi in the calf, regardless of their size. We conclude that real-time B-mode ultrasonography is a technique that can easily be used routinely for detection of postoperative DVT in hip surgery, but its sensitivity for proximal thrombosis (63%) is too low for it to be used alone.

In order to compare the effect of oral apixaban (a factor Xa inhibitor) with subcutaneous enoxaparin on major venous thromboembolism and major and non-major clinically relevant bleeding after total knee and hip replacement, we conducted a pooled analysis of two previously reported double-blind randomised studies involving 8464 patients. One group received apixaban 2.5 mg twice daily (plus placebo injection) starting 12 to 24 hours after operation, and the other received enoxaparin subcutaneously once daily (and placebo tablets) starting 12 hours (± 3) pre-operatively. Each regimen was continued for 12 days (± 2) after knee and 35 days (± 3) after hip arthroplasty. All outcomes were centrally adjudicated. Major venous thromboembolism occurred in 23 of 3394 (0.7%) evaluable apixaban patients and in 51 of 3394 (1.5%) evaluable enoxaparin patients (risk difference, apixaban minus enoxaparin, -0.8% (95% confidence interval (CI) -1.2 to -0.3); two-sided p = 0.001 for superiority). Major bleeding occurred in 31 of 4174 (0.7%) apixaban patients and 32 of 4167 (0.8%) enoxaparin patients (risk difference -0.02% (95% CI -0.4 to 0.4)). Combined major and clinically relevant non-major bleeding occurred in 182 (4.4%) apixaban patients and 206 (4.9%) enoxaparin patients (risk difference -0.6% (95% CI -1.5 to 0.3)). Apixaban 2.5 mg twice daily is more effective than enoxaparin 40 mg once daily without increased bleeding.