Research Article Venous Thromboembolism following Elective Aesthetic Plastic Surgery: A Longitudinal Prospective Study in 1254 Patients Denis Souto Valente, Lauro Aita Carvalho, Rafaela Koehler Zanella, and Sibelie Valente M˜ ae de Deus Health System, Avenida Verissimo de Amaral 580-1704, 91360-470 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil Correspondence should be addressed to Denis Souto Valente; denisvalentedr@gmail.com Received 23 August 2014; Revised 28 September 2014; Accepted 28 September 2014; Published 9 October 2014 Academic Editor: Francesco Carinci Copyright © 2014 Denis Souto Valente et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background. Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a disorder with short-term mortality and long-term morbidity. Healthy patients submitted to elective aesthetic plastic surgeries (EAPS) have risk factors to develop VTE not well established yet. Te objective of this study was to examine the incidence and risk factors for VTE in these patients. Methods. Longitudinal, prospective (minimum follow- up of 3 months), observational study. Comprehensive information on patient characteristics and surgeries performed was obtained. Preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative risk factors were analyzed for their association with VTE. Results. A total of 1254 patients were included in the study. Postoperative VTE occurred in 17 (1,35%) of patients. VTE was more frequent in patients more than 40 years old (82.3%). Smoking, patients with 2 or 3 pregnancies, and hormone replacement therapy, and oral contraceptives use presents higher levels of VTE. In this study we have not found any correlation between liposuction, augmentation mammoplasty, mastopexy, and rhinoplasty as an isolated risk factor for VTE. Conclusions. Te incidence of VTE in patients undergoing EAPS was 1.35%. Patients with more than 40 years of age, tobacco users, patients with 2 or more pregnancies, and hormone replacement therapy or oral contraceptives use presents higher levels of VTE. 1. Introduction Te signifcant increase in the popularity of aesthetic plastic surgeries in recent years has led to an increase in the number and types of complications associated with these procedures [1]. Te postoperative occurrence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) is one of the most feared among these complications [2]. VTE, including deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and pul- monary embolus (PE), is a disorder with short-term mortality and long-term morbidity. Te majority of PE deaths occur within hours of the embolic phenomenon, even when the event occurs in the hospital, ofen secondary to unrecognized DVT [3]. VTE carries the risk of sudden mortality but also notable morbidity, including the postthrombotic syndrome and pulmonary hypertension with progression to right heart failure [4]. Healthy patients submitted to elective aesthetic plastic surgeries (EAPS) have risk factors to develop VTE not well established yet, and there is no consensus regarding the use of VTE prophylaxis among them [5, 6]. In 2008, VTE risk stratifcation and prevention were identifed by the Plastic Surgery Foundation Research Oversight Committee as the top patient safety research priority in this specialty [7]. Around 7% of plastic surgeons report a patient death from postoperative PE [8]. Unfortunately, we do not have, to date, a specifc study of VET regarding only patients of aesthetic surgery. In order to further understand the risk factors and incidence of VTE, the objective of this study was to examine the incidence and risk factors for VTE in patients undergoing EAPS. 2. Methods Tis is a longitudinal, prospective (minimum follow-up of 3 months), observational study conducted at a private day hospital between January 2006 and June 2013 with consecu- tive patients of two plastic surgeons. All participants provided written and informed consent prior to study initiation and patient enrolment. Tis study is in accordance with the 2000 Edinburgh, Scotland Revision of the Declaration of Helsinki, Hindawi Publishing Corporation Plastic Surgery International Volume 2014, Article ID 565793, 4 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/565793