Background. Thrombosis is a rare complication for the single orthopaedic surgeon. The objective for this study was to determine the incidence of thromboembolism after orthopaedic surgery at Söder Hospital.

Methods. All patients operated on during 1997–2000 (n= 25284) were given a short questionnaire regarding postoperative complications. The patients were asked to return the form at 6 weeks. About 50% of the forms were returned spontaneously. A research nurse contacted the rest of the patients. The questionnaires were compared with patient’s charts. An orthopaedic surgeon judged if the complication was related to surgery.

Results. 99.5% of the surveys were returned. 0.78% deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and 0.20% pulmonary emboli (PE) were radiographically diagnosed. DVT mean age was 59.6 and PE 74.7 years. Median DVT detection time was 18.0 and PE 20.6 days. DVT and PE incidence was higher in lower extremity compared to upper extremity surgery. DVT incidence in Achilles tendon ruptures (9.5%), knee replacement (5.8%), pelvic fractures (4.8%) was high.

Conclusions. Thromboembolism incidence in orthopaedic surgery was low. However, some surgical procedures had a high DVT incidence. The results of this study imply the need for adjusting thromboprophylaxis according to the surgical procedure.