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Venous thromboembolism (VTE) incidence increases sharply with age (Figure 1) and appears steady over the last 25 years, despite preventive strategies. 1 Women are more often affected at younger ages; this ratio reverses in the elderly. 2 Incidence is similar in Blacks but lower in Asians. 3 Almost two-thirds of VTE cases are isolated deep vein thromboses (DVTs), and 80% are proximal. 4 Recent European population studies reported DVT incidence of 70–140 cases/100,000 person-year. 5 Deep vein thrombosis are mostly secondary to predisposing factors common with pulmonary embolism (PE)(webtable 1). 6 Distal (below knee) DVTs are more frequently related to transient situations while proximal ones to chronic conditions. 7 In 25–50% of first DVT episodes, no predisposing factor is identified. In patients with DVT without PE, short-term mortality rates of 2–5% were reported, more frequent in proximal than …