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Thromboprophylaxis for lung cancer patients—multimodality assessment of clinician practices, perceptions and decision support tools

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to report the opinions and self-reported practices of clinicians, as well as the availability of decision support tools, regarding appropriate thromboprophylaxis for patients with lung cancer to identify variation in practice and/or divergence from evidence-based clinical practice guidelines (CPG).

Methods

A computer-generated survey (SurveyMonkey software) was distributed to surgical, radiation and medical oncologists with lung cancer specialisation, via membership of the Australian Lung Cancer Trials Group (ALTG) from May to September 2013.

Results

Seventy-two clinicians, from public, private, specialist and general hospitals, completed the survey (46 % response rate). Hospital-endorsed CPG were widely available (91 %); however, these routinely lacked robust recommendations for the ambulatory care setting (98 %) and risk stratification tools (65 %). Clinicians consistently identified ambulatory care treatment modalities (chemotherapy, alone or in combination with radiotherapy) as having similar (high) thrombotic risk as surgery. Timing and duration of pharmacological thromboprophylaxis prescribing among surgical oncologists varied and were divergent from guideline recommendations. Fifty-eight percent of surveyed clinicians cited a lack of high-quality data to guide preventative strategies in lung cancer patients.

Conclusion

Clinicians consistently identified patients with lung cancer as having a high thromboembolic risk in both ambulatory and surgical settings, but with differences in recommendations and variation in practice. CPG lacked robust recommendations for the ambulatory care setting, the main arena for the multimodality lung cancer treatment paradigm.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the Australian Lung Cancer Trials Group in the distribution of the survey and to thank the clinicians who participated.

Conflict of interest

None

Funding

None declared

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pharmacy Department, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Locked Bag 1 A’Beckett Street, Melbourne, VIC, 8006, Australia

    M. Alexander & S. Kirsa

  2. Department of Radiation Oncology, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Australia

    M. MacManus & D. Ball

  3. Department of Medical Oncology, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Australia

    B. Solomon

  4. Department of Haematology, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Australia

    K. Burbury

  5. Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

    M. Alexander

  6. Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Melbourne, Australia

    D. Ball & B. Solomon

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  1. M. Alexander
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Correspondence to M. Alexander.

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Alexander, M., Kirsa, S., MacManus, M. et al. Thromboprophylaxis for lung cancer patients—multimodality assessment of clinician practices, perceptions and decision support tools. Support Care Cancer 22, 1915–1922 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-014-2170-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-014-2170-y

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