Simon Noble, Sophie Banerjee, Nikki
Jane Pease
Guidelines suggest that indefinite anticoagulation be considered for patients with ongoing active cancer. This paper reviewed current practice and
associated symptoms at the end of life for patients with advanced cancer who
had been anticoagulated for VTE.
The majority of cancer associated thrombosis patients with
metastatic disease remain anticoagulated up to or within days of death. Despite
the limitations of retrospective data across healthcare settings, the authors suggest that anticoagulation as death approaches confers a significant bleeding risk
without additional benefit of preventing VTE symptoms.