Management of venous thromboembolism: clinical guidance from the Anticoagulation Forum

Excerpt

Venous thromboembolism (VTE), comprised of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE), has gained increasing recognition over the last two decades as a serious medical condition and a public health concern [1]. Since VTE is a largely preventable disorder, appropriately focused public health initiatives can have a major impact on its incidence. On average, about 1/1000 individuals will develop VTE annually, with the highest incidence in the older population [2]. Because VTE is a disease of aging we can only expect its incidence to rise with the graying of the population. Importantly, when VTE manifests itself as PE, it has a high case fatality rate and PE accounts for approximately 100,000 deaths per year [2]. Accurate statistics, however, are difficult to acquire, possibly because PE often develops as a complication of other serious conditions and it often goes undiagnosed, or even when diagnosed, death is attributed to the underlying illness. …