Terri Kitson, Emma Osborne, Simon Noble, Nikki Pease, Raza Alikhan, Catherine Bryant, Tristan Groves, Rebecca Wallace, Sarah Walker, Kathy Seddon, Deb Smith, Lawrence Raisanen, Joanna Smith, Ian Thomas, Laura Upton, Angela Casbard
INTRODUCTION: Medical patients, admitted acutely to hospital, are at risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE). Clinical guidelines advise thromboprophylaxis prophylaxis for those at high risk of VTE. VTE is a common sequela of cancer, but guidelines take little consideration of cancer as an independent risk factor and their utility in palliative care patients is unclear. The hospice inpatient deep vein thrombosis (DVT) detection study (HIDDen) reported a 28% prevalence of asymptomatic iliofemoral DVT in hospice patients of poor performance status (PS) and prognosis, calling into question the utility of thromboprophylaxis in the palliative care setting...
September 5, 2023: BMJ Open