• BACKGROUND
    • Venous thromboembolism (VTE) events are infrequent but potentially catastrophic complications following orthopedic surgery. There is currently a paucity of evidence regarding the role of chemoprophylaxis with low-dose aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid [ASA]) after shoulder arthroplasty.
  • METHODS
    • We conducted a retrospective review of prospectively collected complications occurring within 90 days of 2394 primary shoulder arthroplasties performed over a 3-year period at a single institution. Patients preoperatively underwent risk stratification into medically high risk, moderate risk, or low risk as part of a standardized navigated-care pathway. For chemoprophylaxis, 81 mg of ASA (low dose) was routinely used once daily for 6 weeks unless alternative medications were deemed necessary by the medical team. Baseline demographic information, medical comorbidities, and postoperative VTE prophylaxis, as well as rates of clinically symptomatic VTE, were assessed.
  • RESULTS
    • Symptomatic VTE occurred after 0.63% of primary shoulder arthroplasties (15 of 2394). There were 9 patients with deep vein thromboses and 6 with pulmonary embolisms. Eighty-one milligrams of ASA was used in 2141 patients (89.4%), resulting in an overall VTE rate of 0.56%. Medically high-risk patients were significantly more likely to have a VTE (P = .018). Patients with a history of deep vein thrombosis, asthma, and cardiac arrhythmia were significantly more likely to have a VTE (P < .05). Complications occurred in 4 patients (0.19%) associated with low-dose ASA and 1 patient (0.63%) associated with a novel oral anticoagulant medication.
  • CONCLUSION
    • Routine use of low-dose ASA results in a very low risk of VTE and medication-associated complications following primary shoulder arthroplasty. Preoperative medical risk stratification can potentially identify patients at high risk of postoperative VTE.