Clinical Characteristics and Risk Factors of Patients with Lung Cancer Complicated with Pulmonary Embolism: A Case Control Study

The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical characteristics and risk factors for patients with lung cancer complicated by pulmonary embolism and to provide a reference for the early clinical identification of these patients.

Eighty patients with lung cancer complicated with pulmonary embolism who were treated at Bethune Hospital of Shanxi from October 2018 to October 2025 were compared with 80 patients with lung cancer without pulmonary embolism. The clinical data of the two groups of patients were collected and analysed.

Compared with that in patients in the LC group, the proportion of patients with pulmonary interstitial fibrosis in the LP group was significantly greater (p < 0.05). The incidence of dyspnoea in the LP group was significantly greater than that in the LC group (p < 0.05). Compared with that in the LC group, the proportion of pulmonary artery compression in the LP group was significantly greater, and the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05). In terms of pathological type, the proportion of adenocarcinoma patients in the LP group was significantly greater than that in the LC group (p < 0.05). In terms of tumor stage, the proportion of patients with stage III/IV disease in the LP group was significantly greater than that in the LC group, while the proportion of patients with stage I/II disease was significantly lower than that in the LC group, and the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05). The neutrophil [NEUT (%)], prothrombin time (PT), white blood cell (WBC), carcinoma embryonic antigen (CEA) and D-dimer (DD) levels were significantly greater in the LP group than in the LC group (p < 0.05). In terms of treatment, the proportion of patients receiving systemic chemotherapy in the LP group was significantly greater than that in the LC group (p < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis revealed that adenocarcinoma, systemic chemotherapy and tumor stage III-IV were independent risk factors for lung cancer complicated with pulmonary embolism.

(1) Tumor stage (III/IV), systemic chemotherapy, and adenocarcinoma were independent risk factors for pulmonary thromboembolism in patients with lung cancer. (2) In addition, patients with LP were more likely to have pulmonary interstitial fibrosis, dyspnoea, compression of the pulmonary artery by the tumor location, biological targeted therapy, and abnormal increases in D-dimer, WBC, NEUT (%), CEA and PT levels as laboratory indicators. (3) Pulmonary thromboembolism should be considered in lung cancer patients with a combination of the factors described above.