Summary
Despite numerous studies documenting the association between cancer and venous thromboembolism
(VTE), the reason for the excessive risk in certain cancers remains obscure. No large-scale
studies have yet investigated the independent effects of cancer type,site and growth
pattern.Between 1970 and 1982, 23,796 standardised autopsies were performed, representing
84% of all in-hospital deaths in an urban Swedish population.The relationship between
cancer and PE was evaluated with logistic regression.The overall PE prevalence was
23%, and 10% of the population had a fatal PE. Forty-two per cent of pancreatic cancer
patients had PE (OR 2.55; 95% CI 2.10–3.09) (p<0.001); gall bladder, gastric, colorectal
and pulmonary adenocarcinomas were similarly independently associated with PE. In
comparison with squamous cell lung cancer, patients with pulmonary adenocarcinoma
had 1.65 times higher odds for PE (95% CI 1.20–2.29). Adenocarcinoma and metastatic
cancer were independently associated with PE risk (OR 1.27; 95% CI 1.16 – 1.40; p<0.001,
and OR 1.10;95% CI 1.01 – 1.20; p=0.024, respectively) but when controlling for cancer
type and spread, pancreatic cancer was still associated with an OR of 2.10 (95% CI
1.71–2.58) of PE (p<0.001).We conclude that the risk of PE in cancer patients depends
not only on the cancer site and spread but also on the histological type.The excess
independent risk in pancreatic cancer is intriguing and should warrant further research.
Keywords
Clinical / epidemiological studies - malignancy - pulmonary embolism