Purpose: To evaluate the incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in ambulatory pancreas cancer patients receiving chemotherapy and analyze Khorana's predictive model of chemotherapy-associated thrombosis.
Methods/patients: We performed a retrospective review to determine the incidence of VTE in the gastrointestinal cancer unit of our center. Between 2008 and 2011, 84 consecutives patients diagnosed with pancreas adenocarcinoma were identified and included in the analysis. Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors were excluded.
Results: Thirty patients experienced VTE (35.7 %) and 66 % of the events were diagnosed during the first 6 months after diagnosis. Khorana's score: 33.3 % of the intermediate category patients developed a venous thromboembolic event and 37.5 % in the high-risk category.
Conclusions: The high incidence of VTE observed in this study is consistent with prior reports. Specific predictive model for chemotherapy-associated thrombosis in pancreatic cancer must be investigated.