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Outcomes after inferior vena cava filter placement in cancer patients diagnosed with pulmonary embolism: risk for recurrent venous thromboembolism

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Abstract

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a common complication in cancer patients and anticoagulation (AC) remains the standard of care for treatment. Inferior vena cava (IVC) filters may also used to reduce the risk of pulmonary embolism, either alone or in addition to AC. Although widely used, data are limited on the safety and efficacy of IVC filters in cancer patients. We performed a retrospective review of outcomes after IVC filter insertion in a database of 1270 consecutive patients with cancer-associated pulmonary embolism (PE) at our institution between 2008 and 2009. Outcomes measured included rate of all recurrent VTE, recurrent PE, and overall survival within 12 months. 317 (25%) of the 1270 patients with PE had IVC filters placed within 30 days of the index PE event or prior to the index PE in the setting of prior DVT. Patients with IVC filters had markedly lower overall survival (7.3 months) than the non-IVC filter patients (13.2 months). Filter patients also had a lower rate of AC use at time of initial PE. There was a trend towards higher recurrent VTE in patients with IVC filters (11.9%) compared to non-filter patients (7.7%), but this was not significant (p = 0.086). The risk of recurrent PE was similar between the IVC filter cohort (3.5%) and non-filter group (3.5%, p = 0.99). Cancer patients receiving IVC filters had a similar risk of recurrent PE, but a trend towards more overall recurrent VTE. The filter patients had poorer overall survival, which may reflect a poorer cancer prognosis, and had greater contraindication to AC; therefore these patients likely had a higher inherent risk for recurrent VTE. A prospective study would be helpful for further clarification on the partial reduction in the recurrent PE risk by IVC filter placement in cancer patients.

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Funding

This research was funded in part through the NIH/NCI, Cancer Center Support Grant P30 CA008748.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Hematologic Oncology, Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, H-717, New York, NY, 10065, USA

    Catherine Coombs, Rekha Parameswaran, Simon Mantha, Kathy Deng & Gerald Soff

  2. Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Deborah Kuk & Sean Devlin

  3. Department of Interventional Radiology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Robert H. Siegelbaum & Jeremy C. Durack

  4. Hematology Service, Division of Hematologic Oncology, Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, H-717, New York, NY, 10065, USA

    Gerald Soff

Authors
  1. Catherine Coombs
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  2. Deborah Kuk
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  3. Sean Devlin
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  4. Robert H. Siegelbaum
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  5. Jeremy C. Durack
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  6. Rekha Parameswaran
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  7. Simon Mantha
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  8. Kathy Deng
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  9. Gerald Soff
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gerald Soff.

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All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Coombs, C., Kuk, D., Devlin, S. et al. Outcomes after inferior vena cava filter placement in cancer patients diagnosed with pulmonary embolism: risk for recurrent venous thromboembolism. J Thromb Thrombolysis 44, 489–493 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11239-017-1557-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11239-017-1557-2

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