Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2007 Apr;9(2):89-95.
doi: 10.1215/15228517-2006-035. Epub 2007 Feb 27.

Venous thromboembolism and survival in patients with high-grade glioma

Ralph Simanek  1 , Rainer Vormittag, Marco Hassler, Karl Roessler, Martin Schwarz, Christoph Zielinski, Ingrid Pabinger, Christine Marosi
Affiliations

Venous thromboembolism and survival in patients with high-grade glioma

Ralph Simanek et al. Neuro Oncol. 2007 Apr.

Abstract

Patients with malignancy, particularly patients with high-grade glioma (HGG; WHO grade III/IV), have an increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE). It has been suggested that VTE predicts survival in cancer patients. The aim of our study was to investigate the occurrence of symptomatic VTE and its impact on survival in patients with HGG. Consecutive patients (n = 63; 36 female, 27 male; median age, 58 years) who had neurosurgical intervention between October 2003 and December 2004 were followed after surgery until October 2005. Objectively confirmed VTE was recorded as an event. All patients had received thrombosis prophylaxis with low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) during the immediate postoperative period. Subsequently, 56 patients received radiochemotherapy, 6 radiotherapy, and 1 chemotherapy only. Patients were followed over a median time period of 348 days. Fifteen patients (24%) developed VTE. Pulmonary embolism was diagnosed in nine patients (60%) and was fatal twice. The cumulative probability of VTE was 21% after three months and 26% after 12 months. The highest frequency of VTE was observed in patients with biopsy and subtotal tumor resection (n = 37; multivariate hazard ratio, 3.58; 95% CI = 0.98-13.13; P = 0.054) compared with patients with total resection. Survival did not significantly differ among patients with and without VTE and was 53% after 12 months in both groups. Patients with HGG, particularly those with biopsy and subtotal resection, are at high risk to develop VTE postoperatively. Thrombosis was not associated with a significant reduction of survival.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Cumulative probability of VTE.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Cumulative probability of VTE, according to type of surgery.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Cumulative probability of survival, according to VTE.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Cumulative probability of survival according to type of surgery.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Alcalay A, Wun T, Khatri V, Chew HK, Harvey D, Zhou H, White RH. Venous thromboembolism in patients with colorectal cancer: Incidence and effect on survival. J Clin Oncol. 2006;24:1112–1118. - PubMed
    1. Altinbas M, Coskun HS, Er O, Ozkan M, Eser B, Unal A, Cetin M, Soyuer S. A randomized clinical trial of combination chemotherapy with and without low-molecular-weight-heparin in small cell lung cancer. J Thromb Haemost. 2004;2:1266–1271. - PubMed
    1. Bergqvist D, Agnelli G, Cohen AT, Eldor A, Nilsson PE, Le Moigne-Amrani A, Dietrich-Neto F. Duration of prophylaxis against venous thromboembolism with enoxaparin after surgery for cancer. N Engl J Med. 2002;346:975–980. - PubMed
    1. Blackwell K, Hurwitz H, Lieberman G, Novotny W, Snyder S, Dewhirst M, Greenberg C. Circulating D-dimer levels are better predictors of overall survival and disease progression than carcinoembryonic antigen levels in patients with metastatic colorectal carcinoma. Cancer. 2004;101:77–82. - PubMed
    1. Brandes AA, Scelzi E, Salmistraro G, Ermani M, Carollo C, Berti F, Zampieri P, Baiocchi C, Fiorentino MV. Incidence of risk of thromboembolism during treatment high-grade gliomas: A prospective study. Eur J Cancer. 1997;33:1592–1596. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources