Clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with lung cancer, gastrointestinal cancer and urologic cancer with venous thromboembolism

Abstract

Objective: To compare the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with lung cancer, gastrointestinal (GI) cancer and urologic cancer with venous thromboembolism (VTE). Methods: From January 2003 to January 2013, 192 lung cancer, GI cancer and urologic cancer patients with VTE were retrospectively evaluated for the clinical characteristics and outcomes. Results: Among 192 patients, 82 cases of lung cancer, 78 cases of GI cancer, 32 cases of urologic cancer were involved. The Eastern Cooperative oncology Group Performance Status score of GI cancer group was significantly higher than those of the lung cancer and urologic cancer groups[(2.4±1.1) vs (2.0±1.4), (1.8±1.0), both P<0.05]. The proportion of smoking patients in lung cancer group was significantly higher than that in GI cancer and urologic cancer groups (79.3% vs 30.8%, 53.1%, both P<0.05), while the proportion of operation was significantly lower than that in the latter two groups (35.4% vs 53.8%, 68.8%, both P<0.05). Pathological types of cancer were mostly adenocarcinoma, and the proportion of adenocarcinoma in lung cancer and GI cancer groups was significantly higher than that in urologic cancer group (76.9%, 73.8% vs 37.9%, both P<0.001). The proportion of moderately and/or poorly differentiated histodifferentiation in the first two groups was significantly higher than that of urologic cancer group (90.0%, 95.7% vs 40.0%, both P<0.001). The proportion of patients with TNM stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ in lung cancer group was significantly higher than that of the urological cancer group (87.0% vs 64.3%, P<0.05). The incidence of VTE in lung cancer group was significantly higher than those of GI cancer and urologic cancer groups within 6 months after tumor diagnosis, chemotherapy and operation (79.3% vs 60.3%, 46.9%; 76.5% vs 48.6%, 36.4%; 92.3% vs 57.9%, 59.1%; all P<0.05). The case fatality rate within one year in lung cancer and GI cancer groups was significantly higher than that in urologic cancer group (51.2%, 52.6% vs 18.8%, both P<0.01). The median survival time of the lung cancer and GI cancer groups was significantly shorter than that of the urological cancer group (P=0.001, 0.010, respectively). Conclusions: Adenocarcinoma, advanced cancer, and poor histodifferentiation are risk factors of VTE in cancer patients. Most events of VTE occur within 6 months after a diagnosis of cancer. The prognosis of lung cancer and GI cancer complicated with VTE is worse than that of urologic cancer with VTE.