A good comprehensive review of the Risk Assessment of Venous Thromboembolism Among Cancer Patients in Nigeria Using the Modified Khorana Risk Scoring System.
Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a fatal complication in patients with active cancer. VTE is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. The risk of VTE is usually precipitated by a combination of factors that includes surgery, trauma, hospitalization, cancer with or without chemotherapy, and also the use of central nervous catheters. A risk assessment model such as the modified Khorana risk score is needed to select ambulatory cancer patients for thromboprophylaxis. This study aims to provide a concise review of the use of the Khorana scoring system in the evaluation of the risk of VTE among cancer patients. A comprehensive literature search was done using search engines linked to academic databases including Google Scholar, Pubmed, Ebsco, Hinari, Scopus, etc. Studies involving venous thromboembolism in cancer patients were thoroughly studied. Only papers with risk of cancer-associated thrombosis and articles on Khorana risk scoring system were used. VTE is associated with increased morbidity and mortality among cancer patients due to the hypercoagulability and prothrombotic state of cancer. There is a paucity of information on the risk assessment of VTE in cancer patients using the Khorana scoring system in our environment. More advocacy of the use of the Khorana scoring system for the assessment of VTE among cancer patients should be encouraged to mitigate the increasing morbidity and mortality associated with cancer patients in Nigeria.
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