One of the more known complications after orthopedic surgery (and especially after a knee replacement) is deep venous thrombosis (DVT). When it occurs, it often occurs in the calf. Although it may remain asymptomatic and never progress, it can travel to the lungs and cause a pulmonary embolism. In some cases, this can lead to shortness of breath and even be fatal on rare occasions. 🚨 Orthopedic surgeons such as myself often do focus on DVT prophylaxis, especially after major procedures involving the lower extremities. While in the past many surgeons had used Coumadin and similar blood thinners after joint replacement, I have seen an increasing number of surgeons simply using aspirin as DVT prophylaxis. The change may at least partly be explained by a 2018 study in the New England Journal of Medicine nejm which showed that aspirin performed similarly to Xarelto in terms of preventing symptomatic DVTs after hip or knee replacement surgery (PMID: 29466159). However, the choice of DV...