A nation-wide initiative against venous thromboembolism

There is a gap between knowledge and recommendations regarding venous thromboembolism (VTE) on the one hand and daily practice on the other. This fact has prompted a Swiss multidisciplinary group consisting of angiologists, haematologists, internists, and emergency medicine and pharmaceutical medicine specialists interested in VTE, the SAMEX group, to set up a series of surveys and studies that give useful insight into the situation in our country. Their projects encompassed prophylactic and therapeutic aspects of VTE, and enrolled over 7000 patients from five academic and 45 non-academic acute care hospitals and fifty-three private practices in Switzerland. This comprehensive Swiss Clinical Study Programme forms the largest database surveying current clinical patterns of VTE management in a representative sample of the Swiss patient population. Overall the programme shows a lack of thromboprophylaxis use in hospitalised at-risk medical patients, particularly in those with cancer, acute heart or respiratory failure and the elderly, as well as under-prescription of extended prophylaxis beyond hospital discharge in patients undergoing major cancer surgery. In regard to VTE treatment, planning of anticoagulation duration, administration of LMWH for cancer-associated thrombosis, and the use of compression therapy for prevention of post-thrombotic syndrome in patients with symptomatic proximal DVT require improvement. In conclusion, this programme highlights insufficient awareness of venous thromboembolic disease in Switzerland, underestimation of its burden and inconsistent application of international consensus statement guidelines regarding prophylaxis and treatment adopted by the Swiss Expert Group.