Risk assessment and prophylaxis of venous thromboembolism in non-surgical patients: Cancer as a risk factor

It is well documented that cancer patients undergoing surgery are at a suff iciently high risk of developing venous thromboembolism (VTE) to justify th e routine use of prophylactic anticoagulant therapy, However, despite many studies showing an increased incidence of VTE associated with the use of ch emotherapy in patients with breast carcinoma and with the use of indwelling venous access catheters in patients with various kinds of cancer, thrombop rophylactic strategies are not yet widely used, Copyright (C) 2001 S. Karge r AG. Basel.