Can electronic alerts and patient teaching stop deadly clots after cancer surgery?
NCT ID NCT06451003
First seen Sep 09, 2026 · Last updated Sep 10, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
Blood clots after major cancer surgery are common and dangerous, but patients often leave the hospital without medicine that lowers that risk. Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina are testing whether educating surgeons and adding an electronic alert in the medical record helps them prescribe the recommended blood thinners. They also give patients dedicated teaching about clot risk at discharge and ask whether that improves understanding and adherence. The trial compares prescription rates and patient surveys before and after these changes.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- surgeon education plus an electronic medical record decision support tool, and dedicated patient education about blood clot risk
- What this could lead to
- If it works, this could raise the number of cancer surgery patients who get recommended blood-thinning medicine after leaving the hospital, which may prevent dangerous clots.
- What could go wrong
- This is a small study at one hospital system, so the approach may not work elsewhere. Changing surgeon habits and patient behavior is hard, and the trial may not show a clear benefit.
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Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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About 30 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Jul 2024
- Expected to finish
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Dec 2026
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 years and older
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
SURGEON CLUSTER Inclusion Criteria: * Surgeons performing cancer surgery within the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) system will be identified. Patients undergoing surgery for included cancers in the three hospitals will be identified using inclusion/exclusion criteria as follows. "Abdominopelvic cancer surgery" includes esophagectomy, gastrectomy, pancreatectomy, small bowel resection, colectomy, proctectomy, cystectomy, nephrectomy and hysterectomy / oophorectomy performed for a diagnosis of cancer as identified by Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code and International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) diagnosis code. Exclusion Criteria: * We will exclude patients receiving preoperative therapeutic anticoagulation within 30 days preoperatively, patients initiating therapeutic anticoagulation postoperatively and patients with chronic kidney disease grade 3 or higher. Patients with postoperative length of stay 30 days or greater will be excluded as ePpx duration is for 30 days postoperative. PATIENT SURVEY Inclusion Criteria: * Patients undergoing surgery for included cancers in the three hospitals will be identified using inclusion/exclusion criteria as follows. "Abdominopelvic cancer surgery" includes esophagectomy, gastrectomy, pancreatectomy, small bowel resection, colectomy, proctectomy, cystectomy, nephrectomy and hysterectomy / oophorectomy performed for a diagnosis of cancer as identified by Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code and International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) diagnosis code. Exclusion Criteria: * We will exclude patients receiving preoperative therapeutic anticoagulation within 30 days preoperatively, patients initiating therapeutic anticoagulation postoperatively and patients with chronic kidney disease grade 3 or higher. Patients with postoperative length of stay 30 days or greater will be excluded as extended pharmacologic venous thromboembolism duration is for 30 days postoperative. * Lack of survey response.
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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Medical University of South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina, 29425, United States
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