Thrombosis Risk Associated with Head and Neck Cancer: A Review

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a common complication for cancer patients. VTE-associated risk varies according to the type of tumor disease. Head and neck cancer is a common cancer worldwide, and most tumors are squamous cell carcinomas due to tobacco and alcohol abuse. The risk of VTE associated with head and neck (H&N) cancer is considered empirically low, but despite the high incidence of H&N cancer, few data are available on this cancer; thus, it is difficult to state the risk of VTE. Our review aims to clarify this situation and tries to assess the real VTE risk associated with H&N cancer. We report that most clinical studies have concluded that there is a very low thrombosis risk associated with H&N cancer. Even with the biases that often exist, this clinical review seems to confirm that the risk of VTE was empirically hypothesized. Furthermore, we highlight that H&N cancer has all the biological features of a cancer associated with a high thrombosis risk, including a strong expression of procoagulant proteins, modified thrombosis/fibrinolysis mechanisms, and secretions of procoagulant microparticles and procoagulant cytokines. Thus, this is a paradoxical situation, and some undiscovered mechanisms that could explain this clinical biological ambivalence might exist.