Healio recently reported on a study which found that African ancestry was a risk factor for venous thromboembolism (VTE) following the treatment of lung cancer with pulmonary resection (removal of affected lung tissue). Other risk factors found during the study included advanced-stage cancer and interstitial fibrosis. Meanwhile, the most minimally invasive surgical resection lowered the risk of VTE.
VTE is a serious postoperative complication for these patients and can contribute to significantly to morbidity and mortality. This study was a retrospective analysis conducted with the intention of identifying risk factors for VTE-related mortality and for VTE following lung cancer surgery. Through the identification of these risk factors, the research team hopes to help improve the safety of pulmonary resection surgery and identify at-risk groups that could benefit from additional prophylaxis and postoperative monitoring.
The cohort included data from 57,531 adults who had been treated with pulmonary resection from 2009 to 2021. The dataset excluded patients who underwent emergency surgery or who received extrapleural pneumonectomy. 758 patients from the cohort developed VTE (pulmonary embolism). The analysis demonstrated that those with a history of VTE (12% vs 6%), patients with interstitial fibrosis (3% vs 2%), and Black patients (12% vs 7%) developed VTE more frequently.
Other risk factors included pneumonectomy (8% vs 5%) and bilobectomy (6% vs 4%). Patients that developed VTE faced increased rates of readmission, 30-day mortality, and reintubation. The data also revealed that over the time period of the study cohort, mortality had gradually gone down over time, from 20% in 2009 to 8% by 2018.
The researchers suggested that patients in at-risk groups should undergo more extensive perioperative prophylactic measures. In addition, pulmonary resection should be as minimally invasive as possible as this appeared to reduce the risk of VTE post-surgery. One option being suggested was lower extremity Doppler ultrasonography. The researchers also concluded that future research should focus on the effectiveness of these measures in at-risk groups who are about to receive pulmonary resection for lung cancer.
Check out the original study text in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.
cancer research lung cancer research
Last modified: April 12, 2024
