Physiologically significant thromboembolic disease following total hip arthroplasty. A prospective study.

A prospective study was performed of 115 patients without previous history of thromboembolic disease undergoing 117 total hip arthroplasties. No prophylactic anticoagulants were used; two patients developed physiologically significant thromboembolic disease. No deaths were encountered. This incidence of 1.7% is significantly (p = 0.05) lower than that of previous reports and compares favorable with the incidence of complications encountered with prophylactic anticoagulation therapy itself.