title: Prospective cohort study of cancer patients diagnosed with incidental venous thromboembolism on routine computed tomography scans.
abstract: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a major complication of cancer with recent increasing reports of incidental VTE. The objectives are to estimate the prevalence of incidental VTE in cancer patients on staging CT scans, identify common symptoms, and determine VTE recurrence in a prospective study.
  
  
  
  One thousand ninety patients were studied. Adult cancer patients scheduled for outpatient staging CT scans were eligible. VTE cases were followed for 6 months. Fisher's exact test for group comparisons of categorical variables and generalized linear modeling to estimate the prevalence of incidental VTE was used.
  
  
  
  The mean age was 58 years (range 18-87 years); 50% were male. The prevalence of incidental VTE was 1.8% (CI 1.15-2.87%). Significant symptoms in patients with VTE included fatigue (p = 0.004), stress (p = 0.0195), depression (p = 0.019), poorer quality of life (p = 0.0194), and poorer physical well-being (p = 0.0007). All the patients with VTE had at least one comorbidity (p = 0.03). No patient had recurrence within 6 months.
  
  
  
  The prevalence of incidental VTE on staging CT scans is lower than previously reported. Symptoms were associated with VTE; however, further work is needed to understand whether these are clinically relevant. No VTE recurrences were noted following 6 months.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Internal Medicine, Unit 1465, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd, Houston, TX, 77030, USA. cescalan@mdanderson.org.
authors.forename: Carmen P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Escalante
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Radiology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Gregory W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Gladish
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.affiliation: Department of General Internal Medicine, Unit 1465, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zalpour
authors.affiliation: Department of General Internal Medicine, Unit 1465, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Binara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Assylbekova
authors.affiliation: Department of General Internal Medicine, Unit 1465, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Shuwei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of General Internal Medicine, Unit 1465, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Kelechi A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Olejeme
authors.affiliation: Department of General Internal Medicine, Unit 1465, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Marsha N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Richardson
authors.affiliation: Department of General Internal Medicine, Unit 1465, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Maria E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Suarez-Almazor
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications*; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*; D054556:Venous Thromboembolism / Q000453:epidemiology*
chemical_list: D000925:Anticoagulants
keywords: Cancer; Incidental venous thromboembolism; Prevalence; Venous thromboembolism