Patterns of interventions for central venous catheter-associated deep vein thrombosis and outcomes in cancer patients

Purpose This letter evaluated the impact of different management strategies, specifically the presence or absence of therapeutic anticoagulation, on clinical outcomes for central venous catheter (CVC)-associated deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in cancer patients. Methods One-hundred ninety-eight adult cancer patients with a confirmed CVC-associated DVT diagnosis from February 2013 and February 2021 were included. Results Incidence of symptomatic recurrent venous thromboembolism (VTE) was similar between patients who received therapeutic anticoagulation and those who did not (14% vs 16%, p = 0.807). In addition, therapeutic anticoagulation did not significantly alter the incidence of grade 3 and above bleeding events despite most patients having hematologic malignancies (9% vs 8%, p = 0.826). Conclusion and relevance Therapeutic anticoagulation was not associated with a reduction in the incidence of recurrent VTE or increase the incidence of bleeding in adult cancer patients following a CVC-associated DVT diagnosis.