In the general population, the incidence of thromboembolic events is 117 cases/100,000 inhabitants/year, while in cancer patient incidence, it is four-fold higher, especially in patients who receive chemotherapy and who are affected by pancreatic, lung or gastric cancer. At the basis of venous thromboembolism (VTE) there is the so-called Virchow triad, but tumor cells can activate coagulation pathway by various direct and indirect mechanisms, and chemotherapy can contribute to VTE onset. For these reasons, several studies were conducted in order to assess efficacy and safety of the use of anticoagulant therapy in cancer patients, both in prophylaxis setting and in therapy setting.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVenous thromboembolism (VTE) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with cancer. For over a decade, the gold standard of treatment and secondary prevention of cancer-associated thrombosis (CAT) has been represented by low-molecular-weight heparins (LMWHs), which are currently recommended as the first-line treatment for CAT. Among the LMWHs that were more extensively tested in patients with CAT, tinzaparin is a LMWH produced by the enzymatic degradation of porcine-derived unfractionated heparin.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is associated with increased risk of colon cancer (CC), whereas metformin use seems to be protective. However, the impact of metformin use on the risk of death or disease recurrence after radical surgery for CC remains uncertain.
Materials And Methods: This is a substudy conducted in patients with high-risk stage II or stage III CC randomized in the TOSCA trial, which compared 3 versus 6 months of fluoropyrimidine-oxaliplatin adjuvant chemotherapy.