Unsuspected Pulmonary Embolism Clinical Trial
Official title:
Prospective Study on the Treatment of Unsuspected Pulmonary Embolism in Cancer Patients
The same initial and long-term anticoagulation is suggested for unsuspected pulmonary
embolism as for patients with symptomatic embolism. Based on these indications, cancer
patients with unsuspected pulmonary embolism would be anticoagulated for at least 6 months or
until the disease is active, which in most cases would mean indefinite treatment. In fact,
dedicated studies on the treatment of unsuspected pulmonary embolism are missing, leaving
doubts over the need for (indefinite) anticoagulation which exposes these patients to an
increased risk of major bleeding events. Concerns over the need for anticoagulant treatment
may especially hold for pulmonary embolism of the distal pulmonary tree since segmental and
sub-segmental PE seem to have a more benign course than more proximal embolism.
The scope of this study is to evaluate the current treatment approaches for unsuspected
pulmonary embolism and to assess their efficacy and safety in a large prospective cohort of
cancer patients.
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