Prevention of venous thromboembolic complications with and without intermittent pneumatic compression in neurosurgical cranial procedures using intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging. A retrospective analysis

•A retrospective analysis of 207 neurosurgical patients for thromboembolic complications was done.•This study shows the benefit of pneumatic compression preventing thromboembolic complications.

ObjectTo evaluate the introduction of intraoperative and postoperative pneumatic compression additionally to the use of compression stockings, low molecular weight heparin-LMWH and early mobilization, a retrospective study in cranial neurosurgery using intraoperative MRI was performed.MethodsA retrospective analysis of 207 neurosurgical patients using intraoperative MRI was performed. A group of 86 patients was treated with the additional use of intraoperative and postoperative pneumatic compression until mobilization out of bed. One hundred twenty-one patients were treated without the use of additional pneumatic compression. Postoperatively the patients were screened for deep venous thrombosis by ultrasound and pulmonary embolism by CT-scan if suspicious. Statistical analysis was performed.ResultsThe development of deep venous thrombosis was reduced from 9.9% to 3.5% in our patients with the additional use of intraoperative and postoperative pneumatic compression. That is a 64.6% relative risk reduction to develop deep venous thrombosis with the use of intraoperative and postoperative pneumatic compression.An additional 52% relative risk reduction was found for the chance of developing pulmonary embolism.In the 15 patients with detected deep venous thrombosis, the OR-time was more than 100 min longer than in the 192 patients without detected deep venous thrombosis. The difference between both groups was significant.ConclusionThis study demonstrates the benefit of pneumatic compression with a risk reduction for the development of thromboembolic complications. OR-time is another risk factor that attributes to a significant risk for the development of thromboembolic complications.