Abstract:
Background-objectives: Cancer is a very important risk factor for the development of thromboembolic disorders. We conducted a retrospective study, in order to examine the rate of Deep vein thrombosis occurrence in cancer patients, as well as the effects of risk factors for DVT in cancer patients affected with DVT. Methods: 148 patients were enrolled in this study. Several risk factors for DVT were retrospectively examined with the main emphasis being age, gender, obesity, previous history of past thromboembolic phenomena and metastatic disease. Results: 55.5percent of the study group was older than 60 years of age. Gender did not appear to be a significant risk factor. As for obesity, only 23percent of our patients were defined as obese. An examination of previous history of thromboembolic conditions revealed that 16.8percent had previous history of DVT, 1.3percent developed a PE prior to presentation and 3.4percent were positive for both DVT and PE. As for metastasis, 33.7percent of our study population exhibited metastatic cancer upon their presentation. One interesting finding was that only 13 patients out of the 148 had been on DVT-prophylaxis prior to their admission. Conclusion: Cancer is an important risk factor for the development of thromboembolic phenomena, yet in most parts of the world, prophylaxis is discerned mostly through clinical judgement or local guidelines. With this in mind, and the additive effects of other risk factors, stricter medical practices and well-defined regimens should be set forth to protect cancer patients from these conditions. © Springer Science + Business Media, Inc. 2005.