P14.97 High risk of venous thromboembolism in patients with brain metastases from non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a common complication in patients with cancer. In general, patients with metastatic disease are at highest risk. Lung cancer belong to those tumor entities with a particularly high risk of VTE, ranging between 3-13.8%. However, little is known about the VTE rate in lung cancer patients with brain metastases. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Our study was conducted in the framework of the Vienna Brain Metastasis Registry. Clinical data and VTE events during the course of the disease were recorded via retrospective chart review. In this analysis, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with a resection of brain metastases at the Medical University of Vienna between 2006 and 2010 were included. RESULTS: In total, 69 NSCLC patients with brain metastases were analyzed. Overall, 69.6% (48/69) patients had an adenocarcinoma, 13% (9/69) a squamous cell carcinoma, 8.7% (6/69) a large cell carcinoma and 8.7% (6/69) other primary tumor histologies. After cancer diagnosis, 20.3% (14/69) patients developed VTE during the course of the disease. Of those, 85.7% (12/14) thromboembolic events occurred after the diagnosis of brain metastases. CONCLUSION: Based on our data, patients with brain metastases from NSCLC have a very high VTE risk. Further investigations are needed in order to identify patients with distinct VTE risk profiles. Patients at high risk might potentially benefit from primary thromboprophylaxis over the high risk of intracerebral bleeding.