In a recent retrospective study, Pettus and associates80 reviewed the incidence of VTE in 2208 patients who had undergone any type of partial or radical nephrectomy at a single institution from January 1989 to July 2005. ThromboZ-VAD-FMK prophylaxis was provided by implantable cardioverterdefibrillators (ICD) only. The overall incidence of VTE was 1.5% with DVT and PE occurring in 0.6% and 0.9% of

patients, respectively. Identifiable risk factors for DVT included increasing age, history of coronary artery disease, and nonorgan-confined disease. Increased intraoperative blood loss, history of DVT, and cardiac arrhythmia all significantly increased the risk for perioperative PE. Of note, procedure type (open, partial, laparoscopic) had no impact Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical on incidence of VTE. The authors argued that this low incidence of perioperative VTE does not warrant the use of Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis

with its associated bleeding complications as recommended by the ACCP. However, this study only captured incidences of VTE that occurred within 30 days of surgery. This fact, along with evidence from the prostate literature that inpatient ICD use only delays VTE, raises concern that a significant number of VTE events may have occurred after the 30-day window.67 Although there is conflicting evidence regarding the incidence of VTE in patients undergoing nephrectomy for malignancy, the routine use of pharmacologic Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical prophylaxis in patients undergoing radical nephrectomy is recommended. Pharmacologic prophylaxis should not be used in patients undergoing partial nephrectomy due to high risk for renal Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical parenchymal bleeding at

the resection site. Female Urologic Procedures The majority of data on VTE as well as prophylaxis in female urologic procedures comes from the gynecologic literature. However, findings seem to mirror those just discussed. The risk of VTE appears to be higher in patients undergoing gynecologic procedures for malignancy.10 In the AUA Best Practice Statement, early ambulation was recommended for low-risk patients undergoing minor procedures, mechanical or pharmacologic prophylaxis Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical was recommended for moderate-risk patients undergoing higher-risk procedures, and both mechanical and pharmacologic prophylaxis was recommended for high- and highest-risk patients undergoing higher-risk procedures unless the risk of bleeding is unacceptably high.57 Laparoscopic why Urologic Surgery Relatively few studies have evaluated the use of thromboprophylaxis in urologic laparoscopic surgery. In a study of 344 patients undergoing urologic laparoscopic procedures randomly assigned to receive either fractionated heparin or sequential compression device (SCD) prophylaxis, Montgomery and Wolf found a 1.2% incidence of VTE in both groups. However, the rate of major hemorrhagic complications in the fractionated heparin group was 7.0% as compared with 2.9% in the SCD group.