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
. 2022 Sep 25;11(19):5650.
doi: 10.3390/jcm11195650.

Pulmonary Embolism in the Cancer Associated Thrombosis Landscape

Géraldine Poenou  1 , Teona Dumitru Dumitru  1   2   3 , Ludovic Lafaie  4   5 , Valentine Mismetti  5   6 , Elie Ayoub  1 , Cécile Duvillard  1 , Sandrine Accassat  1   7 , Patrick Mismetti  1   7 , Marco Heestermans  5   8 , Laurent Bertoletti  1   5
Affiliations
Review

Pulmonary Embolism in the Cancer Associated Thrombosis Landscape

Géraldine Poenou et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

In cancer patients, pulmonary embolism (PE) is the second leading cause of death after the cancer itself, most likely because of difficulties in diagnosing the disease due to its nonclassical presentation. The risk of PE recurrence and possibly the case-fatality rate depends on whether the patient presents a symptomatic PE, an unsuspected PE, a subsegmental PE, or a catheter-related PE. Choosing the best therapeutic option is challenging and should consider the risk of both the recurrence of thrombosis and the occurrence of bleeding. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the clinical characteristics and the treatment of cancer-associated PE, which could benefit clinicians to better manage the deadliest form of thrombosis associated with cancer. After a brief presentation of the epidemiological data, we will present the current attitude towards the diagnosis and the management of cancer patients with PE. Finally, we will discuss the perspectives of how the medical community can improve the management of this severe medical condition.

Keywords: cancer; diagnosis; epidemiology; management; prognosis; pulmonary embolism.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Patient-related risk factors for cancer-associated PE [4,5,6,9,10,11,12,13,14,15].
Figure 2
Figure 2
PE incidence among cancer sites associated with PE [4,9,10,11,12,16].
Figure 3
Figure 3
Repartition of the symptoms in cancer-related PE [5,6,10,11,12,15,16,22].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Agnelli G., Verso M. Management of venous thromboembolism in patients with cancer: Management of VTE in cancer patients. J. Thromb. Haemost. 2011;9:316–324. doi: 10.1111/j.1538-7836.2011.04346.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Carson J.L., Kelley M.A., Duff A., Weg J.G., Fulkerson W.J., Palevsky H.I., Schwartz J.S., Thompson B.T., Popovich J., Hobbins T.E. The Clinical Course of Pulmonary Embolism. N. Engl. J. Med. 1992;326:1240–1245. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199205073261902. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cai B., Bedayat A., George E., Hunsaker A.R., Dill K.E., Rybicki F.J., Kumamaru K.K. Malignancy and Acute Pulmonary Embolism: Risk Stratification Including the Right to Left Ventricle Diameter Ratio in 1596 Subjects. J. Thorac. Imaging. 2013;28:196–201. doi: 10.1097/RTI.0b013e3182870bf9. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cohen A.T., Katholing A., Rietbrock S., Bamber L., Martinez C. Epidemiology of first and recurrent venous thromboembolism in patients with active cancer: A population-based cohort study. Thromb. Haemost. 2017;117:57–65. doi: 10.1160/TH13-09-0793. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Au C., Gupta E., Khaing P., Dibello J., Chengsupanimit T., Mitchell E.P., West F.M., Baram M., Alwsare B.K., Kane G.C. Clinical presentations and outcomes in pulmonary embolism patients with cancer. J. Thromb. Thrombolysis. 2021;51:430–436. doi: 10.1007/s11239-020-02298-y. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources