Abstract
Symptomatic venous thromboembolism occurs 4-7 times more frequently in cancer patients as compared to non-cancer patients. This is due to many factors related to the tumour itself, the patient or the treatment.
Therefore appropriate and efficient thromboprophylaxis of venous thromboembolism is very important, as it results in a decrease in morbidity and mortality rates. However, thromboprophylaxis is still underused or rather not used appropriately.
Thromboprophylaxis is recommended in cancer patients undergoing surgery, those hospitalised for an acute medical condition or those who are immobile. Benefit of thromboprophylaxis remains controversial in outpatients and may be limited those patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic or lung cancer treated with chemotherapy.
LMWHs remain the treatment of choice for the prevention and therapy of venous thromboembolism in cancer patients.