Facing the challenge of venous thromboembolism prevention in patients undergoing major abdominal surgical procedures for gastrointestinal cancer

Venous thromboembolism(VTE)refers to a hypercoa-gulable state that remains an important and preven-table factor in the surgical treatment of malignancies.VTE includes two identical entities with regards to deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism.The incidence of VTE after major abdominal interventions for gastro-intestinal,hepato-biliary and pancreatic neoplastic disor-ders is as high as 25%without prophylaxis.Prophylactic use of classic or low-molecular-weight heparin,anti-Xa factors,antithrombotic stocking,intermittent pneumatic compression devices and early mobilization have been described.Nevertheless,thromboprophylaxis is often dis-continued after discharge,although a serious risk may persist long after the initial triggering event,as the coagu-lation system remains active for at least 14 d post-opera-tively.The aim of this review is to evaluate the results of the current practice of VTE prevention in cancer patients undergoing major abdominal surgical operations,with special attention to adequately elucidated guidelinesand widely accepted protocols.In addition,the recent literature is presented in order to provide an update on the current concepts concerning the surgical manage-ment of the disease.