EPO and deep vein thrombosis: A previous systematic review on the use of ESAs (whether or not augmented with preoperative autologous blood donation) in anemic patients undergoing elective hip, knee, and spine orthopedic surgery demonstrated that recombinant human erythropoietin was associated with an increased risk of deep vein thrombosis (Peto odds ratio 1.66, 95%CI [1.10; 2.48]), but was inconclusive regarding the risk of mortality, myocardial infarction, and cerebrovascular accidents [72].