Why the study?
Does anticoagulation therapy and aggressive VTE management improve survival and reduce morbidity in patients with cancer?
Does anticoagulation therapy and aggressive VTE management improve survival and reduce morbidity in patients with cancer?
Aggressive VTE management, including risk assessment and anticoagulation with LMWH, is critical to improving survival in cancer patients.
Supports LMWH anticoagulation to prevent morbidity in cancer; leaves open mortality benefit in prospective RCTs.
The risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients with cancer is 6-12-fold higher than in the general population, and VTE is the second leading cause of death in this population, after cancer itself. The etiology underlying the increased risk of VTE is multifactorial and complex, involving patient-, tumor-, and treatment-related factors. In patients with cancer, cumulative results from studies in those with VTE versus without VTE suggest that anticoagulation therapy, particularly with low-molecular-weight heparins, prevents morbidity and may reduce mortality. Despite the availability of effective and safe therapeutic options, VTE is often underrecognized and suboptimally managed. Interventions such as assessing individual patient risk of VTE, providing VTE prophylaxis and/or prompt treatment, and adopting VTE guidelines are essential aspects of cancer-related care. Aggressive VTE management and strategies are critical to improving survival in patients with cancer and VTE.
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Saraiya et al. (2009) studied this question.
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