Markers of hypercoagulability in cancer patients.

In the last few years, several assays have been developed that permit the evaluation, with a high degree of sensitivity, of the level of activation of the coagulation system. Some of these tests have been used in cancer patients, in an attempt to monitor the risks of tumour progression and the development of thromboembolic complications. Even though coagulation activation markers are often abnormally elevated, the results available so far do not indicate that they are useful in the clinical management of individual cancer patients.