Frequency of venous thromboembolism among hospitalized patients with cancer

Background: Hospitalized patients with cancer have a high risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE). AIM: To study the frequency of VTE and its risk factors in hospitalized patients with cancer. Material and methods: Retrospective analysis of clinical records of patients with cancer, hospitalized at a university hospital between 2002 and 2004. Patients with the diagnosis of VTE at admission or using anticoagulants, were excluded from the analysis. Results: The medical records of 366 patients were reviewed. Fifty three percent had a digestive cancer, 19% lung cancer. 10% breast cancer and 18% had a tumor of other origin. In 77% the tumor was in an advanced stage. The most common admission diagnoses were pneumonia, vomiting and dehydration, gastrointestinal bleeding and urinary infection. In 125 patients (34%) pharmacological thrombo-prophylaxis was not used and 242 (66%) received regular or low molecular weight heparin. VTE was detected in 11 patients (3%) and was significantly more common among patients no receiving thrombo prophylaxis compared to those receiving heparin (6.4% and 1.2%, respectively, p = 0.014). Factors associated to VTE were a history of previous VTE with an odds ratio (OR) of 12.9 (p <0.01), obesity with an OR of 13.3 (p <0.01), recent chemotherapy with an OR of 6.9 (p =0.01). The use of pharmacological thromboprophylaxis had an Or of 0.24 (p =0.05). Conclusions: Three percent of patients in this series had VTE during the hospitalization. Pharmacological thrombo-prophylaxis significantly reduced the risk of VTE (Rev Med Chile 2008; 136: 1528-34).