Thrombosis, prevalence and new evidence on current perceptions of risk

Venous thromboembolism is a significant but unquantified clinical problem in patients with cancer. The FRONTLINE survey was designed to evaluate clinicians' perceptions of thrombosis risk for cancer patients and to examine current clinical practice with regard to thromboprophylaxis and treatment of venous thromboembolism. Over 3800 responses from surgeons, haematologists and other clinicians were received. Their perception of thrombosis risk for patients varied according to the site of primary tumour. Most surgeons thought that patients with brain tumours were at high risk of thrombosis. Most clinicians treating medical (non-surgical) cancer patients perceived pancreatic tumours to carry a high thrombosis risk in the absence of thromboprophylaxis.