Table 1.

Search strategy

Subject headings	Mechanical prophylaxis	VTE and safety outcomes	Surgical patient population
Key words: Each subject heading was searched with the listed key words and combined with Boolean operator OR. The resulting subject strings were combined with the Boolean operator AND	“mechanical prophylaxis”	thrombo*	surg*
	“intermittent pneumatic compression”	embolism	postoperative
	“sequential calf compression”	embolus	intraoperative
	“pneumatic stocking*”	safe*	preoperative
	“compression stocking*”	complication*
	ted*
	intermittent pneumatic compression devices (Pubmed MeSH term)	thromboembolism, venous (Pubmed MeSH term)
	compression stocking (Pubmed MeSH term)