[The venous thromboembolic disease].

Venous thromboembolic disease (VTD) is a frequent medical problem. The VTD includes deep vein thrombosis (DVT), the posthrombotic syndrome (PTS) and pulmonary embolism (PE). The generation of a thrombus in the venous system, is caused by several abnormalities that induce the loss of the most important characteristic of the blood, the liquid state. DVT is due to the formation of a thrombus. Main causes for thrombus formation are thrombophilias which may be classified as primary and secondary. All thrombophilias may affect the homeostasis favoring a hypercoagulable state. In the XIX Century, Virchow classified all the causes of hypercoagulable states as follows: due to stasis of the venous blood flow, due to damage of the endothelium an a hypercoagulable clinical condition. Several risk factors for VTD has been described, during the hospitalization to both, medical and surgical conditions. Among the last, orthopedic and vascular surgery of the legs. Although nearly 50 % of DVTs are asymptomatic and 3 % of the patients with VTD develop PE and 30 % of them die. Thromboprophylaxis is the main strategy to prevent and to diminish the incidence of DVT and its complications. Thromboprophylaxis is useful to improve the quality of life of the patients at risk and it is an effective economical strategy for health care institutions.