Clinical characteristics of pulmonary embolism with underlying malignancy.
OBJECTIVE
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.
Lee
Ji Eun
JE
Department of Internal Medicine, Armed Forces Capital Hospital, Seongnam, Korea.
Kim
Hye-Ryoun
HR
Lee
Sang-Min
SM
Yim
Jae-Joon
JJ
Yoo
Chul-Gyu
CG
Kim
Young Whan
YW
Han
Sung Koo
SK
Shim
Young-Soo
YS
Yang
Seok-Chul
SC
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000792:Angiography; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001661:Biliary Tract Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000532:radiotherapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000532:radiotherapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000532:radiotherapy; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000532:radiotherapy; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011878:Radiotherapy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000532:radiotherapy; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents