Research priorities for National Institutes of Health outlined

Date:

July 13, 2016

Source:

University of North Carolina Health Care

Summary:

An American national initiative aimed to prioritize research in studying the prevalence and mechanisms of venous thrombosis in cancer patients.

More than 20 percent of all blood clots in veins occur in cancer patients. These clots, also known as venous thromboembolism (VTE), pose serious threats for cancer patients. Nigel Key, MB, ChB, FRCP, director of the UNC Hemophilia and Thrombosis Center, is lead author of an advisory opinion on research priorities to address VTE in cancer patients.

Published this month in Cancer Research, the journal for the American Association for Cancer Research, Key's article highlights research priorities that cancer and blood researchers identified during a strategic workshop convened jointly by the National Cancer Institute and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

"The risk for venous thromboembolism (VTE) is increased in cancer and particularly with chemotherapy, and it portends poorer survival among patients with cancer," Key wrote in the July 1 publication. "However, many fundamental questions about cancer-associated VTE, or Trousseau Syndrome, remain unanswered."