Venous thromboembolic disease is a known complication of orthopedic surgery. Hip arthroscopy is a technically demanding procedure with a significant learning curve and low reported complication rate. Few reports document the incidence of venous thromboembolic disease following hip arthroscopy. Our hypothesis was that the incidence of venous thromboembolic disease following hip arthroscopy was comparable to that reported for knee arthroscopy. Eighty-one consecutive patients undergoing hip arthroscopy were retrospectively reviewed. All patients underwent standard diagnostic hip arthroscopy under traction of the operative leg against a well-padded perineal post. All procedures were performed on an outpatient basis. Three of 81 patients (3.7%) developed a clinically symptomatic venous thromboembolic disease in the postoperative period. The diagnosis was suspected clinically and confirmed with the use of a Doppler ultrasound. No patient developed symptomatic pulmonary emboli. One patient used oral contraceptives and 2 had no known risk factors for venous thromboembolic disease. All patients were successfully treated with anticoagulation. This is the first study to document multiple occurrences of venous thromboembolic disease following hip arthroscopy. This study demonstrated the incidence of symptomatic venous thromboembolic disease after hip arthroscopy to be 3.7%. Further study investigation is warranted regarding the incidence of symptomatic and asymptomatic venous thromboembolic disease following hip arthroscopy.
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