Surgical Treatment of Postpartum Iliofemoral Deep Vein Thrombosis--case Reports.

The writing committee for Antithrombotic Therapy for Venous Thromboembolic Disease of the 2008 ACCP guidelines made the following recommendations for thrombus removal strategies in patients with deep vein thrombosis (DVT): open surgical thrombectomy is recommended in patients with acute iliofemoral DVT to reduce symptoms and post-thrombotic morbidity; whenever available, catheter-directed thrombolysis is preferred to surgical venous thrombectomy, the risk of hemorrhage being diminished; surgical venous thrombectomy is recognized to be efficient in cases where catheter-directed thrombolysis is unavailable or the patients are not suitable candidates for such a procedure. Randomized studies comparing surgical thrombectomy and anticoagulant therapy in patients with iliofemoral DVT (IFDVT) showed that at 6 months, 5 years, and 10 years the patients in the thrombectomy group presented increased permeability, lower venous pressure, less edema, and fewer postthrombotic symptoms compared to the patients receiving anticoagulant therapy. In this article we present 3 cases of IFDVT in postpartum patients diagnosed by Doppler ultrasound of the deep venous system. The 3 patients received anticoagulant therapy prior to surgery. Surgery consisted in thrombectomy of the common, superficial and deep femoral veins, external and internal iliac veins, and femoral-saphenous arteriovenous fistula. The patients received postoperative antithrombotic therapy and were followed-up at 3, 6 and 9 months by Doppler ultrasound of the deep venous system.