Antithrombotic therapy in gynecologic surgery and gynecologic oncology

The European Consensus Conference has assessed the risk for thrombotic complications for most women undergoing gynecologic surgery and found it to be moderate. Nonetheless, it is important to analyze a patient's individual risk before surgery so that appropriate thrombosis prophylaxis can be given if increased risk is determined. Malignancy accounts for most thrombotic complications among gynecologic patients. Patients with known malignancies should receive prophylaxis during surgery, and some patients with breast cancer should receive prophylaxis during chemotherapy. Heparin, and low-molecular-weight heparin in particular, may favorably influence the outcome of cancer in some patients and treatment with these agents is currently under investigation in a number of trials as a new approach to anticancer therapy.