Knee and hip implant patients face increased risks for blood clots following surgery, according to new study findings published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Doctors have long known that dangerous blood clots can occur after joint replacement surgery of the knees or hips. Now a new study is showing some worrisome figures.
One in every 100 patients who undergoes knee replacement and one in every 200 undergoing hip replacement surgery will develop a blood clot before ever leaving the hospital, say WebMD and USA Today. The dangerous blood clots are known as venous thromboembolsm.
Deep venous thrombosis (DVT) can form, as they self-describe—deeply in veins. DVTs tend to develop in the leg and become significantly risky when the DVT dislodges, moving through the bloodstream, until it blocks blood flow to the lungs—a pulmonary embolism, said US News.
