Prevalence and treatment of venous thromboembolism in patients with solid tumors

Cancer-associated venous thromboembolism (VTE) has exhibited a rising incidence rate. Research focusing on cancer-associated VTE and current anticoagulation therapy strategies is limited. The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence, characteristics and anticoagulation therapy strategies of cancer-associated VTE. The study was performed on patients with major solid tumors who were admitted to The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University (Nanning, China) between January 2020 and December 2020. The medical records of the patients' demographic characteristics, disease and treatment were extracted from the medical record data system and reviewed. The prevalence of cancer-associated VTE was calculated, followed by statistical analysis. Patients who received anticoagulation therapy for cancer-associated VTE were followed up for 1 year. The characteristics and efficacy of anticoagulation therapy strategies were compared and analyzed. A total of 4,926 patients with major solid tumors (mean age, 55.86±11.97 years) were included in the analysis, of which 117 (2.4%; 117/4,926) were diagnosed with cancer-associated VTE. Patients with pancreatic cancer exhibited the highest prevalence of VTE (10.2%; 5/49), followed by patients with ovarian cancer (5.8%; 9/156) and lung cancer (3.3; 73/2,237). Multivariate analysis identified hypertension comorbidity [odds ratio (OR), 1.661; 95% CI, 1.031-2.674; P=0.037)] and cancer stage (OR, 1.266; 95% CI, 1.079-1.486; P=0.004) as independent risk factors for cancer-associated VTE. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) of the lower extremity accounted for 62.0%; 62/100) of all DVTs. Moreover, pulmonary embolism (PE) with lower extremity DVT accounted for 53.5% (23/43) of all PE cases. The majority of cancer-associated VTE cases (63.2%; 74/117) developed 30 days before or after a cancer diagnosis. In addition, cancer-associated VTE was dominated by symptomatic VTE (59.8%; 70/117). Only 74.4% (87/117) of patients with VTE received anticoagulant treatment, with a median duration of 79 days. The most common anticoagulant treatment strategies were heparin during hospitalization and direct oral anticoagulants (rivaroxaban) after discharge. The anticoagulants associated with bleeding events were rivaroxaban (4.2%; 3/72) and enoxaparin (1.9%; 1/54). In total, 62.1% (36/58) of the patients received anticoagulant treatment for <90 days. In conclusion, the results indicated that the prevalence of cancer-associated VTE is common and exhibits numerous characteristics. Rivaroxaban has been widely used in cancer-associated VTE treatment. However, compliance with long-term anticoagulant treatment is not adequate at present, while the efficacy and safety of rivaroxaban must be evaluated to improve long-term medication monitoring and follow-up among patients with cancer-associated VTE.