Treatment-related frequency of venous thrombosis in lower esophageal, gastro-esophageal and gastric cancer – a clinical prospective study of outcome and prognostic factors

Abstract Introduction Prospective studies of chemotherapy-associated VTE in cancer patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy in combination with curative intended surgery have not been reported for upper gastrointestinal cancer. In this clinical prospective study, we sought to estimate the incidence of VTE in esophagogastric cancer (OEC) patients scheduled for a specific perioperative chemotherapy regime: oxaliplatin, capecitabine, and epirubicin, (EXE) and curative intended surgery. Material and Methods A total of 129 consecutive OEC patients were examined using state-of-the-art bilateral compression ultrasound (biCUS) for deep vein thrombosis (DVT) before undergoing preoperative chemotherapy, surgery, and postoperative chemotherapy. In addition 79 were also consecutively scanned at baseline for pulmonary embolism (PE) using state-of-the-art computer tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA). Results There were 21 VTE cases throughout the course of treatment (16%, 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 10 – 24%) among the patients examined using both biCUS and CTPA. Fourteen of 21 VTE was incidental (68%, 95% CI: 43 –85) and 7 VTE events was symptomatic (33%, 15 – 57). The median overall survival was 18 months (95% CI: 13 – 24) in patients without any VTE and 14 months (95% CI: 7 –30, P = 0.820) in patients with VTE. The cancer stage (adjusted odds ratio [OR]: 5.2, 95% CI: 1 – 21, p = 0.002) and gastric cancer (OR 6.4, 95% CI: 2 – 21, P = 0.002) was a significant predictor of VTE. Conclusion The incidence of VTE in patients undergoing EXE neoadjuvant chemotherapy was high, particularly among patients with initial stage III and IV cancers. In addition, a substantial number of chemotherapy-related VTE cases were asymptomatic.