Splanchnic venous thrombosis may suggest undiagnosed cancer

the Oncology Nurse Advisor take:

According to a new study published in the journal Blood, researchers have found that a blood clot in an abdominal vein may suggest undiagnosed cancer, and these clots may indicate reduced survival in patients with liver and pancreatic cancer.

For the study, researchers analyzed the risk for subsequent cancer diagnosis of 1,191 Danish patients who were diagnosed with abdominal clots and evaluated the survival of those with a splanchnic venous thrombosis (SVT) and cancer versus those without cancer.

Results showed that compared with the general Danish population, patients who developed an SVT were 33 times more likely to be diagnosed with cancer during the first 3 months after SVT diagnosis. In addition, patients with an SVT and liver or pancreatic cancer had a significantly worse 3-month survival compared with those without an SVT.

Researchers also found that patients diagnosed with an SVT were more likely to develop a myeloproliferative neoplasm beyond 12 months after SVT diagnosis.