<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>
Colorectal surgery was regarded as one of the high
risk surgery for post-operative
deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and
pulmonary embolism . This study aimed at investigating the
incidence of
venous thromboembolism (VTE) after
colorectal surgery for
malignancy .</p><p><b>
METHODS </b>Data were collected from the prospective database of colorectal
malignancy from 2000 to 2008. A total of 1421 colorectal (open and laparoscopic) operations were performed for the colorectal
malignancy without DVT prophylaxis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Only seven
patients (0.5%) developed symptomatic DVT and one of them had complication of
pulmonary embolism without
mortality . Open operation for colorectal
malignancy was identified as possible
risk factor of DVT, however,
risk factors like
operative time , low anterior resection,
sex , age etc. were not identified.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>
Risk of
venous thromboembolism after colorectal operation is low in
Chinese of our locality and it might be safe to perform colorectal operation for
malignancy without DVT prophylaxis.</p>