Cancer-associated thrombosis: comparison of characteristics, treatment, and outcomes in oncologic and nononcologic patients followed by a pulmonary embolism response team

INTRODUCTION: The risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients with cancer is currently 12 times higher than in the general population, and even 23 times higher when they receive chemotherapy. The main goal of the pulmonary embolism response team at the Center for the Management of Pulmonary Embolism (PERT‑CELZAT) is to improve prognosis through interdisciplinary care, with a particular focus on patients with contraindications to standard pharmacologic treatment, requiring individual decision‑making, including a wider use of interventional therapeutic methods. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of the study were to report and compare the characteristics and outcomes of pulmonary embolism (PE) in patients with and without cancer treated by the PERT‑CELZAT. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The analysis included 235 patients diagnosed with VTE who were consulted by local PERT between September 2017 and December 2021. The study group was divided into 2 cohorts: oncologic patients (OP) and nononcologic patients (NOP). There were 81 patients in the OP group (mean [SD] age, 66.2 [14.1] years) and 154 patients in the NOP group (mean age, 57.4 [17.4] years). RESULTS: The OPs were older and more frequently diagnosed with incidental PE. In‑hospital mortality for all patients reached 6.4% (15/235), 3.7% in the OP and 7.8% in the NOP group (P = 0.27). In‑hospital events, such as major bleeding, minor bleeding, recurrent PE, and deep venous thrombosis occurred with similar frequency in both groups. Posthospital mortality up to 12 months after the PE diagnosis was 12.8% (10/78) in the OP and 4.2% (6/142) in the NOP group (P = 0.03). In a long‑term survival analysis, cancer was associated with increased risk of mortality (hazard ratio, 2.44 [95% CI, 1.51-3.95]; P <0.001) when adjusted for age. CONCLUSIONS: The multidisciplinary therapeutic approach may provide the OPs with VTE an in‑hospital survival rate noninferior to that of the NOPs. The OPs died more often in the following months, because of their underlying neoplastic disease.