Prevention of venous thromboembolism has become routine in all surgical disciplines and consists of physical and pharmacological measures. The indications and choice of prophylaxis modality depend on the individual patient risk profile which is determined by the combination of exposing and predisposing risk factors. The exposing risk factors are characterized by the type and extent of surgery or trauma, whereas the predisposing risk factors relate to patient-inherent risk factors. This is also taken into consideration for the compilation of guidelines. This review summarizes the recommendations of the German S3 guidelines related to surgery and also discusses the perioperative management of patients receiving long-term anticoagulation with new oral anticoagulants (rivaroxaban, apixaban, dabigatran).     «

Prevention of venous thromboembolism has become routine in all surgical disciplines and consists of physical and pharmacological measures. The indications and choice of prophylaxis modality depend on the individual patient risk profile which is determined by the combination of exposing and predisposing risk factors. The exposing risk factors are characterized by the type and extent of surgery or trauma, whereas the predisposing risk factors relate to patient-inherent risk factors. This is also...     »