Cancers, Vol. 12, Pages 612: Preventing Venous Thromboembolism in Ambulatory Patients with Cancer: A Narrative Review

Cancers, Vol. 12, Pages 612: Preventing Venous Thromboembolism in Ambulatory Patients with Cancer: A Narrative Review Cancers doi: 10.3390/cancers12030612 Authors: Rossel Robert-Ebadi Marti Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is frequent among patients with cancer. Ambulatory cancer patients starting chemotherapy have a 5% to 10% risk of cancer associated thrombosis (CAT) within the first year after cancer diagnosis. This risk may vary according to patient characteristics, cancer location, cancer stage, or the type of chemotherapeutic regimen. Landmark studies evaluating thrombophrophylaxis with low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) for ambulatory cancer patients have shown a relative reduction in the rate of symptomatic VTE of about one half. However, the absolute risk reduction is modest among unselected patients given a rather low risk of events resulting in a number needed to treat (NNT) of 40 to 50. Moreover, this modest benefit is mitigated by a trend towards an increased risk of bleeding, and the economic and patient burden due to daily injections of LMWH. For these reasons, routine thromboprophylaxis is not recommended by expert societies. Advances in VTE risk stratification among cancer patients, and growing evidence regarding efficacy and safety of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) for the treatment and prevention of CAT have led to reconsider the paradigms of this risk–benefit assessment. This narrative review aims to summarize the recent evide...
Source: Cancers - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Review Source Type: research