Clinical outcomes of comorbid cancer patients with venous thromboembolism: A retrospective, single-center study in Korea

In this single-center, retrospective study, we aimed to report the clinical outcomes, among Asian comorbid cancer patients with venous thromboembolism (VTE), and compare them with those of VTE patients without cancer. Between January 2013 and December 2017, a total of 322 consecutive patients—diagnosed with acute VTE involving the leg, pelvis, or lung—were screened for inclusion. Comorbid cancer patients with VTE (n = 135, 41.9%) were included in this study and analyzed in comparison with VTE patients without cancer (n = 187, 58.1%). The study outcomes were the composite incidence of symptomatic and radiologically confirmed recurrence of VTE, or any-cause mortality. The study outcome incidence was 62.2% (n = 84) during a mean follow-up period of 10 months: VTE recurrence in 7 patients and any-cause mortality in 83. Upon multivariate analysis, higher body mass index, diabetes mellitus, cancer stage IV, and radiotherapy were independently associated with study outcome incidence. VTE involving the inferior vena cava (hazard ratio [HR], 12.1; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.20–120.80; P = .034), lung cancer (HR, 16.5; 95% CI, 2.32–117.50; P = .005), and use of vitamin K antagonists (HR, 36.4; 95% CI, 3.00–442.70; P = .005) were independent predictors of VTE recurrence. Compared with VTE patients without cancer, the study outcome incidence was significantly higher among comorbid cancer patients with VTE (62.2% vs 7.5%, P < .001), although there was no significant difference in VTE recurrence between the 2 groups (5.2% in patients with cancer vs 3.7% in patients without cancer, P = .531). We found that various cancer-related and patient-related factors were associated with outcomes among comorbid cancer patients with VTE. The composite incidence of VTE recurrence or any-cause mortality was significantly higher among cancer patients with VTE than among VTE patients without cancer.