Aims: The aim of this study is to analyze the clinical features and prognosis of cancer patients with venous thromboembolism (VTE).
Subjects and methods: This was a retrospective observational study that selected cancer patients with a new VTE event from January 2003 to 2013 using the hospital information system in Beijing Hospital. The patients were divided into three groups according to the site of thrombosis as follows: pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE), deep venous thrombosis (DVT), or PTE plus DVT. The clinical manifestations and prognosis among the three groups were compared.
Results: Among the 18,531 patients diagnosed with a malignant tumor, 280 (1.51%) patients presented with VTE at first diagnosis or during the disease course; of these, 26 had incidental pulmonary embolism (IPE). Dyspnea was the most common symptom in the PTE group (51.65%), and lower limb swelling was found mostly in the DVT group (65.27%). Approximately 53.92% and 63.21% of patients had VTE events within the first 3 and 6 months after cancer diagnosis, respectively. The median survival time of all VTE patients was 24.0 ± 7.85 months, with the DVT group having the longest survival time among the three groups (P < 0.05). About 29.23% of the 130 patient deaths occurred within the first 30 days after VTE diagnosis, and 46.92% occurred within the first 3 months.
Conclusions: The incidence of IPE in cancer patients was not rare. Most VTE events occurred within the first 6 months after the cancer diagnosis, and nearly half of the deaths occurred within the first 3 months of VTE diagnosis in cancer patients.
Keywords: Cancer; deep vein thrombosis; pulmonary thromboembolism; venous thromboembolism.