Background: Although deep venous thrombosis (DVT) often complicates the clinical course in patients with cancer, few studies of the outcomes of DVT in this population have been published. Furthermore, the cost of DVT is largely undescribed. We herein report the largest study of DVT in this population to date.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPatients with malignant brain tumors and deep venous thrombosis (DVT) of the lower extremities are at high risk of developing pulmonary embolism (PE). We developed a Markov model to compare the cost-effectiveness of two strategies to prevent PE in such patients: intra-vena-caval bird's nest filter (BNF) with anticoagulation versus anticoagulation alone. Using the benchmark of 50,000 US dollars per quality-adjusted life year (QALY), BNF was not cost-effective in this population as it reduced the rate of PE at an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of 198,852 dollars per QALY gained.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The purpose of this study was to estimate the mean incremental cost of chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia and the drivers of cost. Another goal was to estimate the impact of depth and duration of thrombocytopenia on the cost of thrombocytopenia.
Methods: A retrospective cohort, consisting of a random sample of 75 solid tumor or lymphoma patients who developed chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia (= 50,000 platelets per microl), was chosen.
Background: The correlation between platelet count and bleeding has been well described, although no formal methods for applying this information to clinical decisions are available. The authors developed a clinical prediction rule to guide the prophylactic use of platelet transfusions among patients with lymphoma or solid tumors.
Methods: The Bleeding Risk Index (BRI) was developed from logistic regression analysis of a randomly selected 750-chemotherapy cycle derivation set using data from Day 1 of cycles.