Tag Archives: thromboembolism

Introduction Professor Stephen Westaby Many of us have watched severe heart failure patients die miserably during haemorrhagic pulmonary oedema. The first for me was my 60-year-old grandfather when I was seven years old. Not something that was easily forgotten. Months later, in 1955, I watched the first episode of ‘Your life in their hands’ from the Hammersmith Hospital. They talked of open heart surgery using something called cardiopulmonary bypass. It was then, in the backstreets of a northern steel town, that I decided to be a heart surgeon. Figure 1. Skull pedestal power delivery Fifty years later, when the BBC resurrected the series,

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NICE calculates that an estimated 25,000 people who are admitted to hospital die from preventable VTE each year.  The NICE guideline, jointly developed with the National Clinical Guideline Centre for Acute and Chronic Conditions, recommends that all patients should be assessed for risk of developing blood clots on admission to hospital, and then given preventative treatment that suits their individual needs. Options include anticoagulant drugs such as heparin, anti-embolism stockings and foot impulse or pneumatic devices.  This advice covers all patients admitted to hospital – including those having day-case procedures – and not just th

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