Korean J Intern Med.  2010 Mar;25(1):66-70. 10.3904/kjim.2010.25.1.66.

Clinical Characteristics of Pulmonary Embolism with Underlying Malignancy

• Lee JE
• Kim HR
• Lee SM
• Yim JJ
• Yoo CG
• Kim YW
• Han SK
• Shim YS
• Yang SC

• KMID: 1785656
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3904/kjim.2010.25.1.66

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS
The risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), which encompasses deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism (PE), increases in patients with cancer. Anticancer treatment is also associated with an increased risk for VTE. We conducted this study to investigate the clinical characteristics of patients with cancer and PE related to anticancer treatment in a tertiary care hospital in Korea.
METHODS
We retrospectively reviewed the clinical data of patients with an underlying malignancy who were diagnosed with PE by chest computed tomography (CT) with or without lower extremity CT angiography between January 2006 and December 2007 at Seoul National University Hospital.
RESULTS
Overall, 95 patients with malignancies among 168 with PE were analyzed. The median age was 64 years. The median time interval from the malignancy diagnosis to the PE diagnosis was 5.5 months. Lung cancer was the most common malignancy (23.0%), followed by pancreatobiliary cancer, stomach cancer, gynecological cancer, breast cancer, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Platinum-containing and pyrimidine analog-containing chemotherapeutic regimens were common.
CONCLUSIONS
PE was diagnosed within 1 year after the cancer diagnosis in almost 70% of patients. Lung cancer was the most common underlying malignancy.

Keyword

Drug therapy; Neoplasms; Pulmonary embolism; Radiotherapy

MeSH Terms

Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Angiography
Antineoplastic Agents/*therapeutic use
Biliary Tract Neoplasms/drug therapy/epidemiology/radiotherapy
Female
Humans
Lung Neoplasms/drug therapy/epidemiology/radiotherapy
Male
Middle Aged
*Neoplasms/drug therapy/epidemiology/radiotherapy
Pancreatic Neoplasms/drug therapy/epidemiology/radiotherapy
Pulmonary Embolism/*epidemiology/radiography
*Radiotherapy
Retrospective Studies
Risk Factors
Stomach Neoplasms/drug therapy/epidemiology/radiotherapy
Tomography, X-Ray Computed