Background Little is known about the incidence and time course of clinical thromboembolic
events after total hip or knee arthroplasty, particularly after hospital discharge. Methods We
used a linked hospital discharge database provided by the State of California to identify
cases diagnosed as having deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism within 3 months
of unilateral total hip or knee arthroplasty. Also, we surveyed orthopedic surgeons to
estimate the frequency of postoperative thromboprophylaxis during July 1991 through June …