Table 3 Clinical practice points of this study

• In contrast to metastatic colorectal cancer, patients with localized colorectal cancer have a very low risk of VTE during the first three years after surgery in curative intent.

• Adjuvant chemotherapy does not appear to increase the risk of VTE.

• Primary thromboprophylaxis beyond the recommended extended post-surgical thromboprophylaxis period of 28 days is unlikely to provide clinical benefit in this population.

• Disease recurrence after localized colorectal cancer increases the risk of VTE by more than 10-fold.