A Prospective Observational Study to Determine Rate of Thromboprophylaxis in Oncology Patients Undergoing Abdominal or Pelvic Surgery

Abstract

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is common in patients with cancer and is a leading cause of death. In addition to the hypercoagulable state associated with malignancy, cancer-related surgery and subsequent immobilization further increase the risk of VTE. Guidelines suggest extended prophylaxis up to 4 weeks with low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) in such patients. This study is conducted to determine the proportion of patients receiving thromboprophylaxis among those undergoing surgery for malignant abdominal or pelvic tumor. This prospective, multicenter, observational study included 300 patients (217 [72.3%] were women). Mean age and duration of cancer were 53.2 and 1.2 years, respectively. A total of 162 (54%) patients received thromboprophylaxis of which only pharmacological in 78 [48.1%], only mechanical in 27 [16.7%], and both pharmacological and mechanical in 57 [35.2%] patients. LMWH (128, 79.0%) and graduated compression stockings (74, 45.7%) were the commonly used modalities. VTE prophylaxis was given in only half of the patients. Physician education to increase adherence to international guidelines is very important. Trial Registration No. CTRI/2013/05/003617.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13193-021-01281-0.

Keywords: Doppler; Low-molecular-weight heparin; Observational study; Pelvic neoplasms; Ultrasonography; Venous thrombosis.