Thromboprophylaxis in cancer patients

Cancer- and chemotherapy-associated venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a serious complication in patients with malignancies. Most important questions and challenges are summarized in the review and an attempt is made to answer some of them. Epidemiology, causes of thrombophilia and risk factor analysis including thrombogenicity of both tumorous disease and chemotherapy are discussed. The following special risk groups are detailed: (a) postoperative, (b) hospitalized non-surgical patients, (c) ambulatory patients with chemotherapy, (d) tumorous patients without chemotherapy. As conclusion, most important messages of the recent guidelines for preventing and treating cancer-associated thrombosis are discussed.