Clinical features and short-term outcomes of cancer patients with suspected and unsuspected pulmonary embolism: the EPIPHANY study

Abstract

The study aimed to identify predictors of overall 30-day mortality in cancer patients with pulmonary embolism including suspected pulmonary embolism (SPE) and unsuspected pulmonary embolism (UPE) events. Secondary outcomes included 30-and 90-day major bleeding and venous thromboembolism (VTE) recurrence.The study cohort included 1033 consecutive patients with pulmonary embolism from the multicentre observational ambispective EPIPHANY study (March 2006-October 2014). A subgroup of 497 patients prospectively assessed for the study were subclassified into three work-up scenarios (SPE, truly asymptomatic UPE and UPE with symptoms) to assess outcomes.The overall 30-day mortality rate was 14%. The following variables were associated with the overall 30day mortality on multivariate analysis: VTE history, upper gastrointestinal cancers, metastatic disease, cancer progression, performance status, arterial hypotension 110 beats.min(-1), basal oxygen saturation