Summary
There is little information on the clinical outcome of patients with venous thromboembolism
and renal insufficiency. RIETE is an ongoing, prospective registry of consecutive
patients with acute, objectively confirmed, symptomatic deep vein thrombosis (DVT)
or pulmonary embolism (PE). In this analysis we analyzed the three-month outcome in
patients with creatinine clearance (CrCl) <30 ml/min. As of March 2007, 1,037 of the
18,251 (5.7%) patients enrolled in RIETE had CrCl <30 ml/min. During the three-month
study period these patients had an increased incidence of fatal bleeding, fatal PE,
and overall death compared to those with CrCl >30 ml/min. Of the 579 patients presenting
with clinically overt PE, 52 (9.0%) died of the initial PE, 13 (2.2%) of recurrent
PE, and nine (1.6%) died of bleeding complications. During the first 15 days of therapy
the 10% incidence of fatal PE was 10-fold their 1.0% of fatal bleeding. From day 16
to 90, the 1.0% rate of fatal PE was not significantly higher than the 0.5% of fatal
bleeding. Of the 458 DVT patients with CrCl <30 ml/min, 14 (3.1%) had fatal bleeding
and only one (0.2%) died of PE. In patients with CrCl <30 ml/min presenting with clinically
overt PE the main threat is PE itself. On the contrary, in those with DVT the main
threat is bleeding.
Keywords
Venous thromboembolism - renal insufficiency - anticoagulant therapy