Improvement in prediction of blood clots in cancer patients
For cancer patients, who have an increased risk of developing venous thromboembolism (VTE) due to a hyperactive blood coagulation system, there is now an enhanced risk model to predict their chance of developing blood clots, according to a recent study published today in Blood, the journal of the American Society of Hematology. VTE, the formation of blood clots in the veins, develops in up to 20 percent of cancer patients and is one of the leading causes of death among this patient population. Patients with haematologic malignancies (blood cancers), particularly those with lymphoma and multiple myeloma, have relatively high rates of VTE - results from this study found that 7.2 percent of lymphoma patients and 7.4 percent of the total study population developed VTE, compared to an estimated general population incidence rate of .001 percent...