Association of perioperative venous thromboembolism with long-term oncologic outcomes following radical cystectomy.

Abstract

364 Background: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) has been reported to occur in 2-5% of patients undergoing radical cystectomy (RC). While VTE is an important cause of perioperative morbidity, the association of these events with long-term cancer prognosis has not been established. Herein, we evaluated the association of perioperative VTE with patients’ risk of subsequent disease recurrence and mortality. Methods: We reviewed 2889 patients undergoing RC between 1980−2009 at the Mayo Clinic to identify patients diagnosed with a VTE within 90 days of RC. These cases were then matched in a 1:2 fashion to control patients undergoing RC who did not develop VTE. Matching was performed on the basis of age, BMI, receipt of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and pathologic T and N stages. Recurrence-free (RFS), cancer-specific (CSS), and overall survival (OS) were estimated utilizing the Kaplan-Meier method and compared with the log-rank test. Results: A total of 132 patients with a VTE within 90 days of RC were identified, accounting for 4.6% of all patients analyzed. These cases were matched to 257 controls per criteria noted above, and were overall well-matched. Of the 389 patients in this study, median follow-up after RC was 9.2 years, during which time 152 (39%) patients experienced recurrence and 306 (78%) died, including 157 (40%) who died of bladder cancer. We found no significant difference in 5-year RFS (59% versus 61%; p = 0.75); CSS (57% versus 64%; p = 0.13); or OS (45% versus 50%; p = 0.15) between patients with versus without perioperative VTE, respectively. Conclusions: We found that VTE within 90 days of RC did not significantly impact long-term cancer outcomes. While these events represent an important cause of perioperative morbidity, no interaction with oncologic control was noted, and patients may be counseled accordingly.