Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a common complication of hip and knee arthroplasty and of many major orthopedic surgeries. VTE mainly includes two aspects, ie, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE). Symptomatic PE is likely to endanger patients' life, resulting in irreversible severe consequences. With the return of venous blood, DVT may also fall off at any time, forming a new PE. Therefore, the prevention of VTE in large orthopedic surgeries has been highly valued by scholars worldwide. However, the problem of VTE after arthroscopic surgery has not drawn much attention from clinicians. Researchers have not reached a consensus on whether routine anticoagulation therapy is required after surgery because of VTE's low incidence and discrepancy among various studies (0.42%-17.9%). With a large number of knee arthroscopy being performed per year, the postoperative VTE incidence can not be ignored. For these reasons, some scholars have suggested that patients after knee arthroscopy should be stratified and that patients with a higher risk of postoperative VTE need to be given anticoagulant therapy. Risk factors for VTE after knee arthroscopy may have effects on the clinical treatment of patients. Therefore, a review of the literature to explore the possible risk factors for postoperative VTE was conducted.

Arthroscopy; Thromboembolism; Risk factors