Assessment the Effect of Prophylaxis Therapy on Splenic and Portal Vein Thrombosis after Open Splenectomy: A Controlled Randomized Clinical Trial

Splenic and portal vein thrombosis (SPVT) is considered as a serious complication of splenectomy with potential life-threatening. Chemoprophylaxis may help to curb the incidence of SPVT after splenectomy. This clinical trial study was conducted to determine the incidence rate of SPVT after splenectomy and investigate the effect of chemoprophylaxis to reduce its incidence. Sixty six patients undergoing open splenectomy were included in this single-blind clinical randomized controlled trial (RCT). Patients were randomly assigned in two groups of intervention and control using block randomization to either d receive 40 mg of enoxaparin subcutaneously once a day for 5 days and then 100mg aspirin for one month or no postoperative drug. After one month, all patients over a week underwent Doppler ultrasonography of the splenic, portal and superior mesenteric veins for thrombosis. The mean age of patients was similar between intervention and control groups (28.3±14.5 and 25.6±14.9, respectively) (P value=0.9).Furthermore, two groups were matched regarding distribution of gender. None of patients in intervention group developed portal vein thrombosis, while of 23 patients in control group, 2 (8.69%) subjects were diagnosed with portal vein thrombosis. The two groups had no statistically significant difference in the rate of portal vein thrombosis (P=0.18). Based on the results of our study, prophylaxis therapy had no effects in preventing portal vein thrombosis developed in patients undergoing open splenectomy for any reason.