Deep Vein Thrombosis Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Deep Vein Thrombosis, including details on dvt, prevention, effects, causes, air travel, blood clots.

Catheter-related thrombosis in cancer patients: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management.

Rosovsky RP, Kuter DJ

Hematology/Oncology Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 100 Blossom Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA.

Central venous catheters (CVCs) are commonly used in oncology patients. Up to 50% of CVCs are complicated by thrombosis within the catheter or the blood vessel. These thrombi are the result of local tissue damage, the catheter itself, and the thrombophilia of cancer. Frequent flushes with saline or heparin may reduce the frequency of catheter dysfunction but do not reduce the rate of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in the catheterized blood vessel. Efforts to use prophylactic heparin or warfarin to reduce catheter-related DVT have not been rewarding.

Published 10 January 2005 in Hematol Oncol Clin North Am, 19(1): 183-202, vii.
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