Temporal trends in prevention of venous thromboembolism following primary total hip or knee arthroplasty 1996-2001: findings from the Hip and Knee Registry.

BACKGROUND: The Hip and Knee Registry is an observational database comprising data on practices of US orthopedic surgeons during 1996 to 2001. We examined trends in the use of prophylaxis for venous thromboembolism (VTE) among patients who underwent primary total hip arthroplasty (THA) or total knee arthroplasty (TKA). METHODS: Data on 9,327 THA and 13,846 TKA patients were submitted between 1996 and 2001 by 464 orthopedic surgeons from 319 …