All postoperative troponin elevation should be treated seriously. Troponin elevation after surgery is associated with significant mortality at 30 days. Myocardial injury after non-cardiac surgery (MINS) diagnosis is made after other causes of troponin elevation are ruled out. Up to 90% of patients with a troponin elevation postoperatively do not exhibit any symptoms, yet their outcomes are still poor.
For those who had an elective hip or knee arthroplasty who have no other risk factors for VTE, after initial 5 days of DVT prophylaxis with rivaroxaban 10mg a day, I complete the remaining DVT prophylaxis with aspirin 81mg once daily for an additional 30 days for hip arthroplasty and 9 days for knee arthroplasty. Those who already were on once-daily 81mg aspirin prior to surgery will receive 162mg aspirin once daily instead in this period.
Physicians who see patients for preoperative assessment often face the dilemma of accurately determining a patients’ cardiac risk. Patients may have limited mobility and thus do not necessarily elicit cardiac symptoms even if there is significant flow-limiting coronary artery disease.
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