Prevention of venous perioperative thromboembolism in ENT and maxillofacial surgery

There are few studies of poor methodological quality on the risk of thromboembolism in head and neck surgery. The incidence of symptomatic deep vein thrombosis is estimated between, 0.1% and 0.6%. The patient's risk factors (cancer, alcoholism, smoking, malnutrition) determine for the assessment of the potential benefit of thromboembolism prophylaxis. No method can be recommended based on the literature. In patients receiving anticoagulant therapy undergoing superficial head and neck surgery or dental extraction, the literature suggest to continue anticoagulation throughout the perioperative period.