Thromboprophylaxis in Patients With Cancer and COVID-19

Interest in thromboprophylaxis has increased since the onset of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. It quickly became clear that patients hospitalized for COVID-19 should receive pharmacological thromboprophylaxis with low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH), unless contraindicated (in line with long-established clinical practice guidelines on antithrombotic prophylaxis in patients hospitalized for an acute medical process).

However, early reports of a high rate of thrombotic events in some cohorts of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 despite the use of standard prophylactic doses of LMWH prompted various scientific societies and expert groups to propose the use of higher doses of LMWH in some patient subgroups.1, 2

At the time, the evidence supporting these recommendations was scant, and, as might be expected, more intense thromboprophylaxis was associated with an increase in hemorrhagic complications.3

CITATION  Arch Bronconeumol. 2022 Nov;58(11):744-745.
doi: 10.1016/j.arbres.2022.08.006. Epub 2022 Sep 8.