Dr. Khorana on Current Practice Patterns on Anticoagulant Treatments for Thrombosis

Alok A. Khorana, MD, professor of Medicine, Department of Hematology and Oncology, Cleveland Clinic, discusses a study that examined practice patterns and patient persistence on anticoagulant treatments for cancer-associated thrombosis.

Patients with cancer are likely to develop blood clots, and there are select anticoagulant treatments available, Khorana explains, including heparin and rivaroxaban.

Khorana says that although heparin is the guideline-recommended agent to treat cancer-associated thrombosis, it is only used in approximately 25% of patients. Rivaroxaban, which is a newer agent with a broad indication, was found to also be used in only 25% of patients. Although warfarin has been used the longest and interacts with other agents, it remains to be the dominant choice of the three agents, Khorana says.