To the editor

On October 14, 2023, the Group for Hemostasis of the Polish Society of Hematology and Transfusion Medicine celebrated the World Thrombosis Day for the tenth time.

There are numerous factors that contribute to increased prevalence of venous thromboembolism (VTE). They include population aging, comorbidities, underestimating the risk of VTE, but also a lack of prompt and timely diagnosis or adequate treatment decisions.

This year, the members of the Group for Hemostasis did not organize their own conference on VTE for clinicians, as they did in the past 9 years.^1-3 Instead, they actively participated in 2 different events held on October 13.

The first event was an interdisciplinary conference for clinicians, “World Thrombosis Day”, organized under the auspices of the Polish Society of Phlebology and supervision of Professor Zbigniew Krasiński. The group members discussed important topics. One of them was “Venous thromboembolism in patients with cancer: heparin vs rivaroxaban or apixban” presented by Professor Anetta Undas, and the other were “Advances in the diagnosis and treatment of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura” and “Prevention and treatment of venous thromboembolism in specific populations,” both presented by Professor Jerzy Windyga.

The other event was a conference for patients held on the occasion of the World Thrombosis Day. The conference was organized by the Thrombophilia and Thrombosis Foundation, and was supervised by Mrs Kamila Jasztor, MA. Professor Jerzy Windyga (Figure 1) talked about thrombophilia in his lecture entitled “I have thrombophilia: what does it mean?”

At the initiative of Professor Anetta Undas, a booklet Understanding venous thromboembolism (Figure 2) was distributed free of charge among patients participating in the conference. Professor A. Undas served as an expert consultant for the booklet. Thanks to the cooperation between the Bleeding Disorders and Thromobosis Foundation and Pfizer Poland (the publisher), the publication will also be available at the hemostaza.edu.pl website.

The celebration of the World Thrombosis Day contributes to better understanding of the risk factors for VTE, improving the diagnostic pathways, and spreading the knowledge on the best therapeutic options.