Analysis on risk factors of lung cancer complicated with pulmonary embolism

Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a potentially fatal complication and its morbidity together with fatalness will further increase when in patients with malignant tumors. Fast and accurate early diagnosis of PE thus seems considerably important.

To explore the risk factors of lung cancer complicated with PE.

A retrospective cohort study consisted of 40 lung cancer patients with PE (PE group) and 60 lung cancer patients without PE (non-PE group) were analyzed.

The white blood cell (WBC) count, D-dimer and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) were higher in PE group than those in non-PE group (P < 0.05), whereas the arterial partial pressure of oxygen (PaO₂ ) in PE group was lower than that in non-PE group (P < 0.05). Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) level between two groups also exhibited statistical difference (P < 0.05). Those lung adenocarcinoma patients with stages III and IV tumor, coupled with deep venous thrombosis (DVT), having experienced bevacizumab treatment or platinum-based chemotherapy more likely suffered from PE (P < 0.05). The multivariate analysis revealed that high D-dimer, chemotherapy, DVT, stages III to IV, adenocarcinoma were independent risk factors associated with PE (P < 0.05). The overall survival time of patients in case group was significantly shorter than that in the control group with a median survival duration being 10.5 months (95%CI, 8.95-12.05) and 16.8 months (95%CI, 14.62-18.98), respectively, (P < 0.01).

High D-dimer, chemotherapy, DVT, stages III to IV and adenocarcinoma might have a positive correlation with PE, meanwhile, PE always predicted a poor prognosis in lung cancer patients.