DOI: 10.1093/bjs/znad258.105 ISSN:

463 Adherence to Extended Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis for Post Operative Resection of Colorectal Malignancies

T Yeung, S Ng, R Sidhu, M Ali
  • Surgery

Abstract

Aim

Patients undergoing cancer resection abdominal surgery are at high risk of developing venous thrombo-embolism (VTE) in the post-operative period. To reduce this risk, these patients should be considered for extended pharmacological VTE prophylaxis for 28 days post-surgery as per NICE guidelines (NICE NG89). In our surgical department, we give all colorectal cancer resection patients 5000 units of Deltaparin for 28 days post resection unless it is contraindicated. We aimed to evaluate adherence to this guideline.

Method

This is a single-centre retrospective audit study. We included 100 colorectal cancer resection cases between 1st October 2021 and 28th February 2022 (n = 100). Retrospective data was collected including the type of procedure, histology and whether post-operative Deltaparin was prescribed for 28 days. All consecutive colorectal cancer resections were included in the study. The data was collected from the patient electronic records, electronic prescribing system and the electronic discharge summaries.

Results

The most common operation was anterior resection of the rectum (42%) followed by right hemicolectomy (40%). The Adherence to the NICE guidelines for extended VTE prophylaxis was 87%.

Conclusions

The adherence to the NICE guidelines in our department falls below the national target of 90% adherence. To improve the compliance, we will carry out staff education on appropriate anticoagulation prescribing and also display informative posters in the surgical wards to increase the awareness. We will aim to re-audit the adherence to the guidelines after implementing these measures.

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