Venous thromboembolism in asian patients with pancreatic cancer following palliative chemotherapy: Low incidence but a negative prognosticator for those with early onset

Jen Shi Chen, Chia Yen Hung, Hung Chang, Chien Ting Liu, Yen Yang Chen, Chang Hsien Lu, Pei Hung Chang, Yu Shin Hung, Wen-Chi Chou*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Article peer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Few studies have reported the epidemiology and clinical outcome of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in Asian patients with pancreatic cancer. This study investigated the incidence, risk factors, and clinical outcome of VTE in patients with pancreatic cancer following palliative chemotherapy. Methods: The medical records of 838 patients with newly diagnosed locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer who underwent palliative chemotherapy between 2010 and 2016 at four institutes in Taiwan were retrospectively reviewed. The clinical characteristics of all patients were analyzed to identify independent predictors of VTE and their effects on survival outcome. Results: During the median follow-up period of 7.7 months (range, 0.6–55.6), VTE occurred in 67 (8.0%) of the 838 patients. Leukocyte count > 11,000/µL and presence of liver metastases were the independent predictors of VTE. Patients with VTE did not show significantly poorer survival outcomes than those without VTE. However, early-onset VTE that occurred within 1.5 months after chemotherapy initiation was an independent negative prognosticator for overall survival. Conclusion: VTE incidence was found to be lower in Asian patients with pancreatic cancer than in their Western counterparts. Early-onset VTE, but not late-onset VTE, is a negative prognosticator for survival outcomes.

Original languageEnglish
Article number501
JournalCancers
Volume10
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - 12 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Keywords

  • Incidence
  • Outcome
  • Pancreatic cancer
  • Predictor
  • Venous thromboembolism

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