Incidence of venous thromboembolism after standard treatment in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer in Korea

Background Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a hospital-associated severe complication that may adversely affect patient prognosis. In this study, we evaluated the incidence of VTE and its risk factors in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Methods We retrospectively analyzed the electronic health record data of 1268 patients with EOC who received primary treatment at the National Cancer Center, Korea between January 2007 and December 2017 to identify patients who developed VTE. Demographic, clinical, and surgical characteristics of these patients were ascertained. Competing risks analyses were performed to estimate the cumulative incidence of VTE according to the treatment type. The associations between putative risk factors and the incidence of VTE were evaluated using the Fine-Gray regression models accounting for competing risks of death. Results VTE was the most prevalent cardiovascular event, found in 9.6% (n = 122) of all patients. Of these VTE events, 115 (94.3%) occurred within 2 years of EOC diagnosis. Advanced cancer stage at diagnosis (distant vs. localized, hazards ratio [HR])= 14.49, p = 0.015) and extended hospital stay (≥15 days, HR =3.87, p = 0.004) were associated with the incidence of VTE. There was no significant difference in the cumulative incidence of VTE between primary cytoreductive surgery followed by adjuvant chemotherapy and neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by interval cytoreductive surgery (HR =0.81, p = 0.390). Conclusions Approximately 10% of patients with EOC were diagnosed with VTE, which was the most common cardiovascular disease found in this study. The assessment of VTE risks in patients with advanced-stage EOC with an extended hospital stay is needed to facilitate adequate prophylactic treatment.