The subcommittee met in business session only this year and discussed five major topics: (1) Frequency and format of the meetings of the subcommittee; (2) Content of the meetings; (3) Current activities for completion; (4) Publications; (5) Recommendations for the program for next year in Barcelona.

Frequency and Format: The members voted to meet every other year in the off-year with the caveat that many U.S. scientists expressed concern re: obtaining funding for travel to the off-year meetings.

Content: After an introduction by Dr. Donati regarding the concerns of the SSC, the subcommittee reaffirmed its desire to deal principally with the issues of standardization of methodology for measuring tumor-associated procoagulants and fibrinolytic proteins, development and maintenance of registries and recommendations for the design of clinical trials in cancer patients.

Ongoing Activities for Completion in 1995-96: Dr. Hau Kwaan will contact Dr. Manfred Schmitt to complete the recommendations for processing tissue and plasma samples for assay of fibrinolytic proteins. Dr. Anna Falanga will contact Dr. Paolo Prandoni regarding preparing a brief description of the study design of SOMIT (Screening for Occult Malignancy in Thromboembolism) for publication in Thrombosis and Haemostasis. Drs. Rickles and Kwaan will be contacting the major manufacturers of antithrombotic drugs (e.g. LMW heparin, etc.) and the principal investigators running trials of these agents to work with the subcommittee. It is our desire to see cancer survival data added to their current study forms and provide this data to the subcommittee on a regular basis. Dr. John Francis will coordinate the preparation of a registry of antibodies that cross-react with clotting and fibrinolytic proteins in animal models. Drs. Francis and Rickles will initiate a plan for standardization of tumor procoagulants to be presented to the subcommittee in Barcelona. Drs. Rickles and Dr. Mark Levine will be contacting the chairmen of the major clinical cancer trials groups and the American Society of Clinical Oncology for the development of interactive programs with the subcommittee, including symposia, joint data collection (e.g. incidence of thrombosis in high risk cancer patients on clinical trials; predictive value of clotting tests for thromboembolism in cancer patients; etc.).

Publications anticipated for submission in 1995-96: (1) Recommendations for collection and processing of tumor and plasma samples for measure of fibrinolytic proteins; (2) SOMIT study design; (3) Recommendations for antithrombotic therapy (prophylaxis and therapeutic) for high-risk cancer patients; (4) Registry of cross-reacting antibodies for use in measuring coagulation proteins in tumor animal models.

Recommendations for program in Barcelona: (1) Standardization of assays for tumor procoagulants; (2) Standardization of collection and assay methods for tumor extracts for fibrinolytic proteins in cancer patients; (3) Update on cancer clinical trials [(a) SOMIT; (b) EST 2491 - Molecular and plasma markers of coagulation and fibrinolysis in Acute Progranulocytic Leukemia; (c) Anticoagulant and fibrinolytic therapy of cancer; (d) Cancer mortality in patients treated with LMW heparin vs. unfractionated heparin]; (4) Report on integration of subcommittee activities with cancer clinical trials groups.