Study: Longer Surgery Increases Clot Risk

Being in surgery for a longer time may increase the risk of forming a dangerous blood clot, a new study suggests. Researchers looked at information about 1.4 million people. All of them had surgery under general anesthesia in a 6-year period. Those surgeries were done at 315 hospitals. After surgery, just under 1% of the patients developed blood clots. About 0.7% developed a clot in the body’s deep veins. This is called a deep vein thrombosis. Most of these clots occur in the legs. About 0.3% of those in the study developed a pulmonary embolism. This is a clot that travels to the lungs. Clots were 27% more likely to occur after the longest surgeries than after average-length surgeries. The risk of clots was lowest after the shortest surgeries. The journal JAMA Surgery published the study online. HealthDay News wrote about it December 3.