Venous Thromboembolism in Patients with Sarcoma: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Background Little has been published about the association of venous thromboembolism (VTE) and sarcoma. In this study, we sought to identify clinical features of patients with sarcoma presenting at least one VTE episode. Methods Our study was a retrospective case–control study of a single‐institution database with univariate and multivariate analysis using chi‐square and Student's t test. A p value less than .05 was considered significant. Results The overall incidence of VTE in patients with sarcoma was 7.9%. Predictive factors identified by multivariate analysis were metastatic disease and administration of chemotherapy. It was not statistically possible to correlate the risk of VTE with specific sarcoma subtypes, but observations suggested malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor, osteosarcoma, and liposarcoma as having the highest propension. Conclusion VTE is not infrequent in patients with sarcoma. Adoption of common guidelines for cancer‐associated thrombosis is recommended.

Intraoperative considerations in a patient with chondroblastic osteosarcoma and saddle pulmonary embolism undergoing amputation

“…In osteosarcoma patients, thromboembolism is more frequently located in the lower extremities and typically occurs in older patients. 11 Chemotherapy also appears to be a significant contributor to the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE); however, the low incidence of chemotherapy-associated VTE in osteosarcomas and the low associated mortality does not point to routine prophylaxis. 11 Venous thromboembolism and pulmonary embolism in cancer patients can be prevented with the use of anticoagulation, especially in high-risk patients.…”

“…11 Chemotherapy also appears to be a significant contributor to the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE); however, the low incidence of chemotherapy-associated VTE in osteosarcomas and the low associated mortality does not point to routine prophylaxis. 11 Venous thromboembolism and pulmonary embolism in cancer patients can be prevented with the use of anticoagulation, especially in high-risk patients. 10 Alteplase (tPA) is the only thrombolytic approved for the treatment of PE in the United States and is currently used for the treatment of PE with hemodynamic instability.…”

D-dimer-based screening for detecting preoperative venous thromboembolism in patients with musculoskeletal tumors: a retrospective study of 756 patients

“…Perioperative VTE in malignant musculoskeletal tumors has been previously reported, with incidence rates of VTE, PE and DVT of 1.18-7.9%, 0.3-1.2% and 4-4.8%, respectively [5][6][7][8][9][10][11] . A high incidence of DVT (22%) was observed only after resection of the lower extremity 12 , which may be in uenced by the location of the tumor and surgical procedure.…”