ANTITHROMBOTIC PROPHYLAXIS IN LAPAROSCOPIC CHOLECYSTECTOMY

Pulmonary thromboembolism is a common cause of in-hospital death. In moderate or high risk patients undergoing laparotomy, acute and long-term mortality can be effectively reduced with an appropriate prophylactic drug treatment, while in low-risk patients undergoing laparoscopy, the correlation between the thromboembolism risk and the procedure itself, as well as potential benefits of thromboprophylaxis are, at present, unclear. Here we report the case of E., a 49-year-old woman with patent foramen ovale, considered to be at low risk of thromboembolism, who experienced a sudden cardiopulmonary arrest following a laparoscopic cholecystectomy and died four days later. The purpose of this case report is to highlight the necessity of continuing large sample studies on the correlation between laparoscopic surgery and thromboembolism in lowrisk patients.