Abstract
Purpose: Venous ultrasonography and measurement of D-dimers were performed to evaluate their efficacies in the diagnosis of deep venous thrombosis in patients undergoing routine urologic surgery. Materials and Methods: The subjects in this study were 56 patients who underwent urologic surgery at our hospital between January 2005 and March 2006. We performed ultrasonographic examination and measurement of D-dimers before and after the surgery. Thirty-nine of the 56 patients underwent transurethral surgery, and seventeen underwent open urologic surgery. We carried out ultrasonographic examination for the detection of deep venous thrombosis from the bilateral iliac veins to the calf muscle veins. Results and discussion: None of the patients had any evidence of deep venous thrombosis either before or after the operations. As for the D-dimer levels, there were no transurethral surgery patients who had D-dimer levels in the positive range; however, six of the 17 patients who underwent open urological surgery showed D-dimer levels in the positive range. Conclusion: In cases undergoing transurethral surgery, routine venous ultrasonography may not be needed if serum D-dimer concentrations can be measured after the operation.
