Journal of Thrombosis and Circulation: Open Access

Abstract

Thrombosis and Cancer: About the Experience of a French Cancer Center

Florence Lai-Tiong

Cancers and their treatments are risk factors for venous thromboembolism. The absolute risk depends on the tumor type, the stage, treatments with anti neoplasic agents. We report the results our retrospective study conducted in 2012, in our cancer center in France. The objectives were to describe the characteristics of patients diagnosed with venous thromboembolism. A total of 41 patients were enrolled: 26 women and 15 men. Median age was 61,6 years. Patients had genito-urinary malignancies for 13 of them, 13 had gynecological cancers, 4 gastro-intestinal cancers, 4 pulmonary or head and neck cancers. Patients were at metastatic stage in 29 cases and 38 received chemotherapy. For 15 patients, thrombosis was revealed by oedema and 10 patients had no symptoms. Pulmonary embolism was diagnosed in 13 patients. More research are needed to estimate the risk of thromboembolic disease in cancer patients and better understand interactions between cancer and blood coagulation, and subsequently to improve the management of the disease.