title: Central venous device-related thrombosis as imaged with MDCT in oncologic patients: prevalence and findings.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Venous thrombosis is a common occurrence in cancer patients, developing spontaneously or in combination with indwelling central venous devices (CVD).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To analyze the multidetector CT (MDCT) prevalence, appearance, and significance of catheter-related thoracic venous thrombosis in oncologic patients and to determine the percentage of thrombi identified in the original reports.
  
  
  METHODS
  Five hundred consecutive patients were considered. Inclusion criteria were: presence of a CVD; availability of a contrast-enhanced MDCT; and cancer history. Exclusion criteria were: direct tumor compression/infiltration of the veins; poor image quality; device tip not in the scanned volume; and missing clinical data. Seventeen (3.5%) out of the final 481 patients had a diagnosis of venous thrombosis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Factors showing the highest correlation with thrombosis included peripherally-inserted CVD, right brachiocephalic vein tip location, patient performance status 3, metastatic stage disease, ongoing chemotherapy, and longstanding CVD. The highest prevalence was in patients with lymphoma, lung carcinoma, melanoma, and gynecologic malignancies. Eleven out of 17 cases had not been identified in the original report.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CVD-related thrombosis is not uncommon in cancer patients and can also be observed in outpatients with a good performance status and a non-metastatic disease. Thrombi can be very tiny. Radiologists should be aware of the possibility to identify (or overlook) small thrombi.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, National Cancer Institute “Fondazione G Pascale" Naples, Italy. orlandcat@tin.it
authors.forename: Orlando
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Catalano
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: de Lutio di Castelguidone
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sandomenico
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Petrillo
authors.forename: Pasquale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Aprea
authors.forename: Vincenza
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Granata
authors.forename: Adolfo Gallipoli
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: D'Errico
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002405:Catheterization, Central Venous / Q000009:adverse effects*; D003287:Contrast Media; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007479:Iopamidol / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015588:Observer Variation; D015995:Prevalence; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*; D020246:Venous Thrombosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; C057937:iomeprol; D007479:Iopamidol