How do palliative physicians manage venous thromboembolism? MJ Johnson Senior Registrar in Palliative Medicine and K Sherry Senior Registrar in Palliative Medicine,

This postal survey among 174 UK palliative physicians, aimed to assess current practice and perceived problems within the management of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients with advanced cancer. The questionnaire was returned by 131 out of 174 (74%) of the doctors surveyed. The most common estimated incidence of patients with VTE was 1-5%. The diagnosis of VTE is usually confirmed by further investigation and in general, outpatients are more likely to be anticoagulated than inpatients. Problems with anticoagulation include bleeding, international normalized ratio instability, appropriateness of anticoagulation, practical difficulties associated with monitoring, and recurrent VTE. Although probably less effective, 77 out of 128 (60%) of respondents use subtherapeutic regimes in order to minimize the risks. Patients with advanced malignancy and VTE are anticoagulated, if considered appropriate, by the vast majority of palliative physicians in the UK. Warfarin has been abandoned in favour of low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) by 26%. LMWH provides anticoagulatio