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Dalteparin

Consenting patients undergoing lung resection will receive standard postoperative thromboprophylaxis in hospital until the time of discharge. Subsequently, patients will be administered LMWH for duration of 30 days as outpatients.

After undergoing lung resection these patients will research standard post-op TE prophylaxis and upon discharge will be administered a placebo injection of subcutaneous saline for 30 days duration.

Dalteparin is a low-molecular weight heparin. The dosage used will be 5000 units once daily (administered as a subcutaneous injection). This is an established prophylactic dose used to prevent the incidence of VTE after surgery.

LMWH: Dalteparin

Upon hospital discharge, half of the patients will be assigned to receive saline placebo injections for up to 35 days after surgery. These injections will have no effect.

Placebo

Yaron Shargall, MD, FRCSC, FCCP

After any surgery, there is a risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), including Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) in the major veins of the legs and Pulmonary Embolus (PE) in the lungs. These clots are usually prevented by the administration of low-molecular-weight heparin, a blood thinner that prevents clotting. In most surgical specialties like thoracic or vascular surgery, this treatment is used until patients are discharged from the hospital. However, in orthopaedic surgery, there is strong evidence that longer term preventative treatment up to 35 days after hospital discharge helps to reduce VTE occurrences. In thoracic surgery, there is an even greater risk of developing PE because of the surgical stress, the common presence of cancer and direct damage to blood vessels in the lung during surgery. Despite the potential utility, the use of extended VTE prevention has never been evaluated in the thoracic surgery population. If extended treatment prevents clots, more patients will avoid complications related to VTE. There is currently very limited information available on the incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients undergoing lung cancer resection and the utility of extended thromboprophylaxis (ET) in this patient population. Furthermore, in contrast to patients undergoing orthopaedic surgery where ET has become standard of care, duration of thromboprophylaxis is not well defined in this patient population. Therefore, there is a clear need to systematically evaluate the effects of extended VTE prophylaxis on the incidence of VTE in the post-op population.

There is currently very limited information available on the incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients undergoing lung cancer resection and the utility of extended thromboprophylaxis (ET) in this patient population. Furthermore, in contrast to patients undergoing orthopaedic surgery where ET has become standard of care, duration of thromboprophylaxis is not well defined in this patient population. Therefore, there is a clear need to systematically evaluate the effects of extended VTE prophylaxis on the incidence of VTE in the post-op population.

As a pilot study, the primary outcome will involve feasibility measures. The investigators aim to measure the proportion of recruitment within each centre, compliance, loss to follow-up, and tolerability of the intervention, defined as the number and severity of per-defined adverse events. The primary outcome of interest for the future full-scale trial is the 30-day incidence rate of VTE following extended 30-day prophylaxis (defined as pulmonary emboli or deep venous thromboembolism of the lower limb as detected by CT (Computed Tomography) pulmonary angiography and full leg Doppler ultrasound, respectively) following lung resection for malignancies.

The proposed pilot project is a multicenter blinded placebo-controlled randomized controlled pilot clinical trial assessing the feasibility and effectiveness of extended-duration VTE prophylaxis (30 days post-operatively) vs. short-term prophylaxis restricted to in-hospital stay with outpatient injected placebo, in patients undergoing lung resection for lung cancer or metastatic disease. All patients will receive both a peri-operative dose followed by postoperative VTE prophylaxis for the duration of their hospital stay. Those who were randomized to prolonged prophylaxis will continue the same dosage regime for an overall of 30 days, whereas the control group will receive placebo injections for the same duration of time.

Extended Low-Molecular Weight Heparin VTE Prophylaxis in Thoracic Surgery

Extended Low-Molecular Weight Heparin VTE Prophylaxis in the Thoracic Surgery Population, a Prospective, Randomized Controlled Study

Measuring accrual rates, patient compliance, adherence to protocol, any-cause loss to follow up, tolerability of the intervention (safety), adverse events, and coordination of participating centre infrastructure

As a pilot study, there is an insufficient number of patients to definitively calculate incidence and compare treatment arms. However, this is a key outcome and the study will seek to determine this outcome. Outcome will be measured by a Chest Computed Tomography (CT) scan with PE contrast protocol and a full leg doppler ultrasound at approximately 30 days after surgery to seek the occurrence of clots

Bleeding is a potential adverse event of Fragmin use. Major bleeding is defined as: Fatal bleeding OR Critical bleeding in a symptomatic area (intracranial, intraspinal, retroperitoneal, pericardial, or intramuscular with compartment syndrome) OR Bleeding causing a fall in hemoglobin level of 2g/dL or more as measured by a blood test at 30 days follow up, OR Bleeding requiring a blood transfusion of at least 2 units of packed red blood cells (excluding transfusions administered intra-operatively or 6-hrs post-operatively since these could not be impacted by post-surgical prophylaxis). Minor bleeding is defined as any bleeding episode not classified as major.

Both procedure-specific and all-cause mortality rates will be calculated

Spots Global Cancer Trial Database for lmwh: dalteparin