Background

Deep venous thrombosis (DVT), which is often associated with pulmonary embolism (PE), is a serious complication after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). In the present study, we examined the overall thrombotic and thrombolytic status using Global Thrombosis Test (GTT) in non-anticoagulated blood of patients undergoing TKA to develop the predictable marker for the incidence of DVT.

Methods

DVT was diagnosed using doppler ultrasonography a day after the surgery in 31 patients with osteoarthritis (n = 24), rheumatoid arthritis (n = 6) and ankylosing spondylitis (n = 1) by the well-trained operator. We measured overall thrombotic and thrombolytic status using GTT and other biomarkers, which is associated with blood coagulation and fibrinolysis, before and immediately after the surgery.

Results

Newly-generated DVT during the operation was detected in 11 of 31 patients (35.4%) 1 day after TKA. There were no differences in markers of coagulation (PT and APTT), platelet activity (platelet aggregation-induced by ADP and collagen) and fibrinolysis (FDP and D-dimer) between non-DVT and DVT group both before and after the surgery. Both Pre- and Post-operative GTT-occlusion times (OT), an index of platelet reactivity, were tended to be shorter, but not significant, in DVT group compared with non-DVT group. Pre-operative GTT-lysis time (LT), an index of thrombolytic activity, was significantly shorter in DVT group compared with non-DVT group, while there were no differences in post-operative value of this index between DVT group and non-DVT group, suggesting overall thrombolytic activity was enhanced in DVT group before surgery.

Conclusions

Our data suggest that enhancement of pre-operative thrombolytic activity assessed by GTT may be a predictable marker for the incidence of DVT after TKA.