If you have active cancer and develop a blood clot in your lung, the standard approach has been hospital treatment. But new research asks: could some of these patients be safely treated at home? The question matters because hospital stays are disruptive, especially when you're already managing cancer.
A study in Japan looked at 178 patients with active cancer and a specific low-risk score for their lung clot. Doctors divided them into two groups: 66 were treated at home, and 112 were treated in the hospital. All patients were on the same blood thinner medication.
The researchers tracked them for three months, looking for serious problems like death from the clot, another clot forming, or major bleeding. In the home treatment group, 3 patients (4.6%) had a major bleeding event. Two of those needed to be hospitalized for it. There were no deaths from clots or new clots in the home group. In the hospital group, 2 patients (1.8%) had one of the serious problems tracked.
The study concludes that for active cancer patients with this specific low-risk clot, home treatment could be a potential option. The findings suggest the safety outcomes between home and hospital care were comparable in this group.