Summary
Pancreatic cancer is known to be associated with VTE, but contemporary rates of incidental
and symptomatic VTE events and their association with mortality are incompletely understood.
We conducted a retrospective cohort study of consecutive pancreatic adenocarcinoma
patients at the University of Rochester from 2006–2009. Data were analysed using a
Cox model with time-dependent covariates. A total of 1,151 radiologic exams of 135
patients were included. Forty-seven patients (34.8%) experienced VTE including 12
pulmonary emboli (PE), 28 deep-vein thromboses (DVTs) and 47 visceral vein events.
Incidental events comprised 33.3% of PEs, 21.4% of DVTs and 100% of visceral VTE.
Median (95% CI) conditional survival beyond three months was 233 (162–322) more days
for those without VTE, which was significantly greater than 12 (3–60) days for those
with DVT as first event (p<0.0001) and 87 (14–322) days with visceral first events
(p=0.022). In multivariate analysis, DVT (HR 25, 95% CI 10–63, p <0.0001), PE (HR
8.9, 95% CI 2.5–31.7, p = 0.007) and incidental visceral events (HR 2.6, 95% CI 1.6–4.2,
p =0.0001) were all associated with mortality, though anticoagulants reduced these
risks by 70% (26–88%, p = 0.009). In conclusion, VTE occurs in over one-third of contemporary
pancreatic cancer patients and, whether symptomatic or incidental, is strongly associated
with worsened mortality. The role of anticoagulation in treating incidental or visceral
VTE warrants further study.
Note: The abstract of this manuscript was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American
Society of Hematology, Orlando, FL, USA on December 5, 2010.
keyword
Malignancy - hypercoagulability - imaging