New Oral Anticoagulants for the Prevention of Venous Thromboembolism in High-Risk Ambulatory Cancer Patients: A Randomized Placebo-Controlled, Double-Blind Clinical Trial

Cancer may cause the blood to clot easier, and as a result, new clots in the veins of arms, legs and lungs are very frequent in patients with cancer. The consequences of these new clots are related to reduced quality of life, delay in treatment against cancer and death. The best way to avoid clots is by using blood thinners before clots are formed in the veins of these patients. A major problem is that not all cancers would equally expose patients to these complications. So, it is important to identify who are the patients with an increased probability for developing clots. This is valuable information for doctors as these patients are the ones who may benefit the most with blood thinners. Recently, new medication is available for preventing clots in patients at risk for clotting. The new medication offers improvements over existing blood thinners, but they have not been evaluated for the prevention of clots in patients with cancer. If they are shown to be useful for preventing new clots in cancer patients, then, this treatment could be used for as long as the cancer is active. In this study, we propose to select cancer patients at high risk for developing vein clots with the goal to determine if administration of new blood thinners decreases the formation of new clots. Today, the number of new cancer patients is increasing, so, developing an effective and safe way to prevent vein clots in these patients will improve their care and optimize the use of medical resources.