SARS-CoV-2 infection and venous thromboembolism after surgery

Robust evidence is needed to enable clinicians and policymakers to minimise VTE risk in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Ideally, such evidence would stratify the risk of VTE against both the duration of time between infection and surgery and presence or absence of symptoms. This study aimed to determine the VTE rate in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection, stratified by current or prior infection.

The authors found that SARS-CoV-2 infection was independently associated with an increased incidence of postoperative VTE in patients with peri-operative and recent SARS-CoV-2 infection. In patients with pre-operative SARS-CoV-2, ongoing symptoms were associated with an increased rate of postoperative VTE, irrespective of how long before surgery the diagnosis was made.

For this live podcast, Anaesthesia Editor Ed Mariano was joined by Elizabeth Li, Joana Simoes and Francesco Pata from the authorship group. They discuss the main findings, strengths, limitations, clinical applications and much more! Enjoy!