ABSTRACT
Survival and quality of life have considerably improved among the cancer population during the last decades, while more effective adjuvant and neoadjuvant therapies have shifted the balance towards intervention. The number of cancer patients falling under the surgeon’s hand is therefore increasing further and further, and their management is becoming more demanding. In patients with shorter life expectancy, treatment will have to prioritize quality of life, whereas where there is a reasonable chance of longer-term survival, prevention of life-threatening conditions needs to be addressed. Therapeutic choices have to take into account that cancer patients may be immobile for significantly longer periods than the noncancer surgical population, either whilst undergoing interventions requiring the patient to be immobilized or just out of sheer debilitation. In this picture, a pivotal role is played by venous thromboembolism (VTE), whose manifestations may range from asymptomatic calf vein thrombosis to acute, life-threatening, massive pulmonary embolism (PE). Its association with malignant disease was first described by Armand Trousseau in 18651 and has been validated many times since.
