Heart and Blood Diseases

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Respiratory Tract (Lung and Bronchial) Diseases

Symptoms and General Pathology

Thrombosis

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Embolism

Body Weight

Thromboembolism

Venous Thromboembolism

Venous Thrombosis

Embolism and Thrombosis

Vascular Diseases

Lung Diseases

Respiratory Tract Diseases

Fibrinolytic Agents

Anticoagulants

All Drugs and Chemicals

Heparin

Enoxaparin

Calcium heparin

Heparin, Low-Molecular-Weight

Tinzaparin

Dalteparin

Enoxaparin sodium

Continue low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) at treatment dose according to body weight for further six months.

Discontinue low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) once patient has received six months treatment following index VTE case.

Participants randomised to Arm A will have already received LMWH (Fragmin®), tinzaparin (Innohep®) or enoxaparin (Clexane®) at treatment dose for six months off trial, and should continue the same drug at the same dose for a further six months on trial. No dose alterations are required unless clinically indicated.

Low Molecular Weight Heparin (LMWH)

Simon Noble, Dr

This is a two year, multicentre, mixed methods feasibility study including a randomised controlled two-arm interventional trial, a nested qualitative study, focus groups and a United Kingdom (UK) wide survey exercise.

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a term to describe blood clots in the legs known as a deep vein thrombus (DVT) or lung, known as a pulmonary embolus (PE). It is a common condition, which causes many symptoms including leg pain, swelling, chest pain and breathlessness. At its most serious, VTE may lead to sudden collapse and death.

Treating VTE costs the UK National Health Service (NHS) £640 million every year, including the long-term complications experienced by nearly a third of patients. VTE treatment usually consists of three to six months blood thinning medicine known as an anticoagulant. For most patients, a tablet called warfarin is used, which requires regular blood tests to ensure the blood is adequately and safely thinned.

We also know that VTE is particularly common in cancer. In the UK, over 250,000 people are diagnosed each year with cancer, of which nearly a fifth will develop VTE. Warfarin is a potentially risky treatment in cancer patients because it may increase the risk of bleeding. Also, VTE may come back in a fifth of patients who are treated with warfarin.

Research has shown that a medicine known as low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) is better than warfarin at treating VTE in cancer patients and decreases the chance of VTE coming back by half. LMWH is given as an injection once a day. Studies have shown that giving the drug as an injection is acceptable to patients, as some patients prefer this to the regular blood tests they need to have for warfarin monitoring. LMWH is also simpler to use since it does not cause problems for patients taking other medicines which is a common problem for patients taking warfarin.

Cancer patients get VTE because the cancer can make the blood sticky and this makes it more likely to clot. It is recommended that patients take LMWH for six months only. However, if someone still has a cancer after six months of treatment with LMWH, there is still a strong chance that the VTE could come back because the cancer causing the blood clots has not gone away. This means that these patients might benefit from taking LMWH for longer than six months. We do not know though whether this would improve the patients' quality of life, help prevent death, or be cost-effective to the NHS.

To help decide if continuing with LMWH would benefit patients, we need to compare the effects of continuing with LMWH for an extra six months with the effects of not continuing LMWH in a clinical trial. Because this has not been done before, the first thing we need to do is see if it would be possible to carry out a full clinical trial with these patients. In other words, will we be able to recruit enough patients, will LMWH be a good treatment for them and will it be a reasonable cost?

To help answer these questions, we propose what is called a feasibility trial. This feasibility trial will compare patients who continue to take LMWH for a further six months with patients who do not continue to take LMWH. Patients with cancer, and who have been taking LMWH for five months for VTE, will be recruited from oncology and haematology outpatients departments and from GP practices.

Patients who are approached to take part in the study will be asked if they would be willing to continue with LMWH for a further six months as part of a research study. If they say yes, then they will be chosen at random to either receive the LMWH for a further six months (intervention group), or to stop LMWH at six months, which is usual care (control group). We will follow up patients for six months from recruitment and ask them to complete questionnaires at three monthly intervals. These questionnaires will ask about their symptoms and quality of life.

We will interview patients who do not wish to consent to the study to explore their reasons why. We will also interview patients who do consent to the study, but who later withdraw from the study to explore their experiences and reasons for withdrawal. We will also explore the views of clinicians towards continuation of LMWH and how they feel about the trial. Focus groups will be held with two groups of clinicians from each care setting. By collecting this information, we will be able to explore whether continuing with LMWH is something that is acceptable to patients and their health care professionals and if there are any side effects with continuing LMWH.

The research team is made up of experienced researchers from all health care settings (GPs, hospital doctors and nurses and health care professionals working in charity organisations). They are supported by approved clinical trials units, which are experienced in running large studies in all areas. The team members also have links to many national and international professional, policy and patient groups, which will be essential to help report the findings of this study.

Anticoagulation Length in Cancer Associated Thrombosis

A Feasibility Study to Inform the Design of a Randomised Controlled Trial to Identify the Most Clinically and Cost Effective Length of Anticoagulation With Low Molecular Weight Heparin In the Treatment of Cancer Associated Thrombosis

Toxicities, including bleeding events and VTEs, will be assessed during the 6 month trial treatment period.

Attitudes of clinicians and patients to extended treatment with LMWH will be assessed through clinician focus groups and qualitative interviews with patients and carers.

National Institute for Health Research, United Kingdom

Wales Cancer Trials Unit

Cardiff University

Senior Trial Manager

Neoplasms

Digestive System Diseases

Rare Diseases

Esophageal Neoplasms

Esophageal Cancer

Yaron Shargall

The purpose of this study is to determine the incidence of post-operative venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients undergoing major esophageal resection for malignancy.

Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) is a common post-operative complication that can result in significant patient morbidity, mortality and health care resource utilization to treat the resultant Pulmonary Embolus (PE) or Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) events. It is the third leading cause of cardiovascular mortality. Due to the high burden of disease, VTE events are actively prevented using mechanical and/or pharmaceutical prophylaxis interventions such as compression stockings or a variety of anti-coagulants. Extensive literature identifies incidence rates and provides guidelines regarding the use of prophylaxis measures in orthopaedic and oncological surgery, but the literature in thoracic surgery is sparse at best or conflicting with reported incidence of symptomatic events ranging from 5% to 14% after esophagectomy. The current practice of VTE prophylaxis in thoracic surgery includes administration of unfractionated or low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) starting in the perioperative period and finishing at patient discharge, while prolonged thromboprophylaxis in orthopaedic surgery beyond 10 to 14 days and up to 35 days has become the standard of care. Such an approach has never been tested or validated in esophageal cancer patients despite the substantial burden and high risk of VTE events in this population. There is a clear need for well-designed studies aiming to define the extent of peri-operative VTE for esophagectomy patients and additional contributing factors associated with VTE in those high risk patients in order to inform best practice patterns. The investigators hypothesize that the incidence and clinical burden of perioperative VTE events in esophagectomy patients are substantial, and that VTE significantly contributes to peri-and post-operative morbidity and mortality. Hence, it will be beneficial to explore the true incidence of VTE events and evaluate the effectiveness of extended-duration, post-discharge prophylaxis for these patients. The investigators also hypothesize that sub-groups of esophagectomy patients will be at higher risk for VTE events and therefore might benefit more from extended-duration, post-discharge prophylaxis, and perhaps from a more aggressive in-hospital regimen.

This prospective cohort study will involve patients undergoing major esophageal resection for esophageal cancer at 9 tertiary care centres across Canada, 4 centres in the USA, and 1 site in China. McMaster University at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton will serve as the Coordinating Centre as well as a study site. Recruitment will commence at each site until 177 patients are enrolled via consecutive convenience sampling. After undergoing esophagectomy, all patients will receive both a peri-operative dose followed by post-operative LMWH VTE prophylaxis for the remainder of their hospital stay. As per current VTE prophylaxis guidelines, prophylaxis will be discontinued upon hospital discharge. VTE outcomes will be assessed using Computed Tomography with pulmonary angiography protocol at 30 and 90 days and bilateral venous Doppler ultrasounds at 30, 60 and 90 days after surgery. The role of D-Dimer will be investigated peri-operatively up to post-operative day (POD) 3, at hospital discharge or POD 10 (whichever is applicable), and at each imaging follow-up visit. A future second phase study will be a randomized controlled trial that will evaluate the role of extended duration thromboprophylaxis post-discharge in reducing the incidence of VTE in this patient population. The proposed prospective cohort study to evaluate the incidence of VTE needs to be conducted first, in order to optimize patient selection and determine the sample size for the subsequent randomized controlled trial.

Incidence of Venous Thromboembolism in Patients Undergoing Major Esophageal Resection

The Contemporary Significance of Deep Venous Thrombosis and Pulmonary Embolus in Patients Undergoing Esophagectomy: A Pilot Study to Evaluate the Incidence of DVT and PE After Major Esophageal Resections

CT pulmonary angiogram and bilateral leg Doppler ultrasound to assess evidence of PE/DVT

Multiple measurements aggregated to arrive at one reported value (e.g., number of participants with adverse events that are related to DVT and PE).

Multiple measurements used including patient characteristics, surgical details, physiological parameters, and patient-reported symptoms questionnaire.

Blood samples used to assess D-Dimer levels to investigate the role of this laboratory test as a quantifiable clinical measure of VTE risk.

Study title	NCT ID	Conditions	Interventions	Eligibility	Organization
Anticoagulation Length in Cancer Associated Thrombosis	NCT01817257	Cancer Thrombosis Venous Thromboe... Deep Vein Throm... Pulmonary Embol...	Low Molecular W...	16 Years -	Cardiff University
Incidence of Venous Thromboembolism in Patients Undergoing Major Esophageal Resection	NCT03115541	Venous Thromboe... Thoracic Surger... Esophageal Canc...		18 Years -	McMaster University
Incidence of Venous Thromboembolism in Patients Undergoing Major Esophageal Resection	NCT03115541	Venous Thromboe... Thoracic Surger... Esophageal Canc...		18 Years -	McMaster University

Spots Global Cancer Trial Database for pulmonary embolus