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
Review
. 2021 Mar 25:15:1212.
doi: 10.3332/ecancer.2021.1212. eCollection 2021.

Survival of patients with cancer associated thrombosis at the Uganda Cancer Institute

Clement D Okello  1 , Yusuf Mulumba  1 , Abrahams Omoding  1 , Henry Ddungu  1 , Jackson Orem  1
Affiliations
Review

Survival of patients with cancer associated thrombosis at the Uganda Cancer Institute

Clement D Okello et al. Ecancermedicalscience. .

Abstract

Background: The occurrence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients with cancer leads to a reduced life expectancy. There is an increased incidence of cancer and its associated mortality in Uganda. We described the survival and characteristics of patients with cancer associated thrombosis (CAT) in a tertiary oncology centre in Uganda.

Methods: We performed a retrospective study on patients with CAT at the Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) using a homogenous purposive sampling method.

Results: One hundred and eleven patients with documented VTE were included in the analysis. At entry, the mean age was 52.4 years, and 69 were female. Ninety eight had deep venous thrombosis, while 12 had pulmonary embolism. The most common cancer diagnoses were haematologic (30), gynaecologic (20) and prostate (17) cancers. Treatment regimens included anticoagulation with low-molecular weight heparin (LMWH) (72) and combined LMWH with warfarin (22). The median overall survival (OS) was 6.3 months, with a 1-year survival rate of 41.5%. Patients with significantly increased hazard of mortality were those with upper gastrointestinal (UGI) malignancies, colorectal and breast cancers. Patients with a body mass index of 25-29.9 kg/m2 (overweight) had a slightly reduced hazard of mortality.

Conclusion: The OS of patients with CAT at the UCI is short. Most patients with CAT presented with advanced stage cancers and at a relatively young age. Patients with UGI, colorectal and breast cancers had increased hazards of mortality, whereas those who were overweight had a slight reduction in the hazard of mortality.

Keywords: Uganda; cancer; thrombosis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

All the authors have declared no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Overall survival of patients with CAT.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Streiff MB, Abutalib SA, Farge D, et al. Update on guidelines for the management of cancer‐associated thrombosis. Oncologist. 2021;26(1):e24–e40. doi: 10.1002/onco.13596. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hamza MS, Mousa SA. Cancer-associated thrombosis: risk factors, molecular mechanisms, future management. Clin Appl Thromb Hemost. 2020;26:1076029620954282. doi: 10.1177/1076029620954282. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Abdol Razak NB, Jones G, Bhandari M, et al. Cancer-associated thrombosis: an overview of mechanisms, risk factors, and treatment. Cancers. 2018;10(10):380. doi: 10.3390/cancers10100380. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Fernandes CJ, Morinaga LTK, Alves JL, Jr, et al. Cancer-associated thrombosis: the when, how and why. Eur Respir Rev. 2019;28(151):180119. doi: 10.1183/16000617.0119-2018. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wabinga HR, Nambooze S, Amulen PM, et al. Trends in the incidence of cancer in Kampala, Uganda 1991–2010. Int J Cancer. 2014;135(2):432–439. doi: 10.1002/ijc.28661. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources