Hip and knee replacements are carried out in their thousands every week. They are, no doubt, a huge lifeline to those people who have been crippled by pain and inability to use their joints before their operation and now have the freedom to move and enjoy life once again. But the risk of deep vein thrombosis after hip and knee surgery unfortunately still remains high, even om those patients who are given anticoagulation therapy as a precaution.

A recent review of 17 studies, that involved nearly 14,000 people, found that the incidence of a fatal DVT after this kind of surgery will occur in about 1 in 32 patients, and fatal pulmonary embolism will occur in around 1 in 100 patients! Those having knee replacement surgery had double the risk of asymptomatic DVT in the week following surgery than those undergoing hip replacement. A sobering thought!