Expert consensus on the management of thrombocytopenia in patients undergoing surgery for digestive system neoplasms

Abstract The current cancer spectrum in China is mainly composed of lung cancers, liver cancers, gastric cancers, colorectal cancers, and breast cancers. Three of them are digestive system neoplasms. Surgical treatment is the main method in treating digestive system neoplasms. Meanwhile, thrombocytopenia is one of the common complications of patients with digestive system neoplasms who had surgical treatment. A variety of factors may be the cause of thrombocytopenia, such as surgical trauma, underlying diseases, drug use (such as chemotherapy drugs), malnutrition, blood dilution during surgery, etc. Thrombocytopenia not only affects the timing and strategy of surgery, but also has a negative impact on the prognosis of patients undergoing cancer surgery, such as increasing the risk of postoperative bleeding and infection, delaying wound healing, leading to prolonged hospitalization, affecting subsequent anti-cancer treatment, and increasing medical expenses. In severe cases, thrombocytopenia causes organ damage or even death. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the full-process management of thrombocytopenia in patients undergoing digestive system neoplasms surgery in clinical practice.