To the editor

World Thrombosis Day (WTD) is celebrated to raise awareness about this dangerous medical condition, with the goal of reducing the number of disabilities and deaths. Since 2014, WTD takes place every year on October 13, the birthday of a German physician Rudolf Virchow, who developed the concept of thrombosis and improved our understanding of the clot formation.1 Last year, the WTD conference in Warsaw, held on October 10, 2020, commemorated Professor Krystyna Zawilska.2

This year, the VIII Scientific Conference entitled “Venous thromboembolism: an underestimated problem” took place in Warsaw on October 9, 2021, in the hybrid form. There were 325 participants in total, 275 online and 50 on-site.

Thrombosis is a common disorder that is responsible for the top 3 causes of cardiovascular death worldwide—heart attack, stroke, and venous thromboembolism. Insufficient awareness of the disease may cause delayed diagnosis and treatment, which often results in severe cardiovascular complications.

Worldwide, 1 in 4 people die from conditions caused by thrombosis, which is greater than the total number of people who lose their lives each year to AIDS, breast cancer, and motor vehicle crashes combined.3 Markedly increased rates of thromboembolic events have been reported in patients with COVID-19, which was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020.4

In 2012, the World Health Assembly set a global target to reduce the number of premature deaths from noninfectious disease (including cardiovascular disease) by 25% by 2025.

During the VIII Scientific Conference, a multidisciplinary approach to problems related to thrombosis was presented by eminent specialists in cardiology, hematology, and gynecology. All lectures are available on the educational platform led by the Group for Hemostasis of the Polish Society of Hematology and Transfusion Medicine (hemostasis.edu.pl), and the summaries of lectures will be published in the first issue of Journal of Transfusion Medicine in 2022. The conference program is presented below.

Conference program

1 Venous thromboembolic disease (VTD) in pregnant women – Marzena Dębska

2 News from ISTH 2021 – Magdalena Łętowska

3 Antiphospholipid syndrome: difficulties in diagnosis and treatment – Jacek Musiał

4 Thrombotic complications after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation – Maria Podolak-Dawidziak

5 Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria: what’s new – Jerzy Windyga

6 Effectiveness and safety of chronic anticoagulant therapy after an episode of venous thromboembolism – Piotr Pruszczyk

7 Treatment of venous thromboembolic disease in oncologic patients – Adam Torbicki

8 Anticoagulation in patients with severe comorbidities: the role of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) – Anetta Undas

9 COVID-19 and venous thromboembolic disease: what is known after 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic – Jerzy Windyga