ABSTRACT

Lung cancer can be revealed by thromboembolic complications. Its association with pregnancy is becoming more frequent due to the increasing number of smoking women. The care of a pregnant woman with cancer is quite delicate because it requires finding a balance between the treatment of the mother and the potential foetal risk.

CASE PRESENTATION: The authors report the case of a 38-year-old patient, with a twin pregnancy of 16 weeks, complicated by proximal and distal peripheral venous thrombosis of the left lower limb under low molecular weight heparin therapy at a curative dose. A week later, the patient presented to the emergency room with respiratory distress associated with chest pain and low-abundance metrorrhagia. The obstetrical ultrasound performed confirmed the vitality of only one of the two foetuses. The transthoracic ultrasound objectified a very abundant pericardial effusion producing a tamponade, which was drained percutaneously and whose cytological study revealed a liquid rich in tumour cells. After the unfortunate death of the second twin and an endouterine evacuation, a chest computed tomography angiogram demonstrated a bilateral proximal pulmonary embolism associated with bilateral moderate pulmonary effusion as well as multiple thrombosis and secondary aspect liver lesions with a suspicious parenchymal lymph node of the upper lung lobe. A liver biopsy concluded to a secondary hepatic localization of a moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma whose immunohistochemical complement revealed a pulmonary origin. A multidisciplinary consultation meeting leaned towards treatment with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The patient died 7 months later.

DISCUSSION: Venous thromboembolic disease is more common in pregnant women. Delayed diagnosis is common in these cases, resulting in a high rate of locally advanced or metastatic disease. Since the treatment of pregnancy-associated cancer does not rely on a standardized approach, the decision on how to proceed must be made by a multidisciplinary team.

CONCLUSION: The cornerstone of management remains to find the balance between treating the mother as well as possible while preventing the foetus from the possible harm of cytotoxic drugs frequently used to treat lung cancer. Because of the delayed diagnosis, the maternal prognosis often remains poor.

PMID:37228933 | PMC:PMC10205297 | DOI:10.1097/MS9.0000000000000516

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PubMed articles on: Cancer & VTE/PE

Ten-Year Multicenter Retrospective Study Utilizing Machine Learning Algorithms to Identify Patients at High Risk of Venous Thromboembolism After Radical Gastrectomy

Int J Gen Med. 2023 May 18;16:1909-1925. doi: 10.2147/IJGM.S408770. eCollection 2023.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: This study aims to construct a machine learning model that can recognize preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative high-risk indicators and predict the onset of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 1239 patients diagnosed with gastric cancer were enrolled in this retrospective study, among whom 107 patients developed VTE after surgery. We collected 42 characteristic variables of gastric cancer patients from the database of Wuxi People's Hospital and Wuxi Second People's Hospital between 2010 and 2020, including patients' demographic characteristics, chronic medical history, laboratory test characteristics, surgical information, and patients' postoperative conditions. Four machine learning algorithms, namely, extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM), and k-nearest neighbor (KNN), were employed to develop predictive models. We also utilized Shapley additive explanation (SHAP) for model interpretation and evaluated the models using k-fold cross-validation, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, calibration curves, decision curve analysis (DCA), and external validation metrics.

RESULTS: The XGBoost algorithm demonstrated superior performance compared to the other three prediction models. The area under the curve (AUC) value for XGBoost was 0.989 in the training set and 0.912 in the validation set, indicating high prediction accuracy. Furthermore, the AUC value of the external validation set was 0.85, signifying good extrapolation of the XGBoost prediction model. The results of SHAP analysis revealed that several factors, including higher body mass index (BMI), history of adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy, T-stage of the tumor, lymph node metastasis, central venous catheter use, high intraoperative bleeding, and long operative time, were significantly associated with postoperative VTE.

CONCLUSION: The machine learning algorithm XGBoost derived from this study enables the development of a predictive model for postoperative VTE in patients after radical gastrectomy, thereby assisting clinicians in making informed clinical decisions.

PMID:37228741 | PMC:PMC10202705 | DOI:10.2147/IJGM.S408770

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PubMed articles on: Cancer & VTE/PE

Ambulatory cancer patients: who should definitely receive antithrombotic prophylaxis and who should never receive

Intern Emerg Med. 2023 May 25. doi: 10.1007/s11739-023-03306-8. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Up to 15-20% of cancer patients experience one or more episodes of venous thromboembolism during cancer disease. Approximately 80% of all cancer-associated venous thromboembolic events occur in non-hospitalized patients. Routine thromboprophylaxis for outpatients with cancer who start new anticancer treatment is currently not recommended by the international guidelines due to the high heterogeneity of these patients in terms of VTE or bleeding risks, the difficulties in selecting patients at high risk, and the uncertainty of duration of prophylaxis. Although the international guidelines endorsed the Khorana score for estimating the thrombotic risk in ambulatory cancer patients, the discriminatory performance of this score is not completely convincing and varies according to the cancer type. Consequently, a minority of ambulatory patients with cancer receive an accurate screening for primary prophylaxis of VTE. The aim of this review is to provide support to physicians in identifying those ambulatory patients with cancer for whom thromboprophylaxis should be prescribed and those that should not be candidate to thromboprophylaxis. In absence of high bleeding risk, primary thromboprophylaxis should be recommended in patients with pancreatic cancer and, probably, in patients with lung cancer harboring ALK/ROS1 translocations. Patients with upper gastrointestinal cancers are at high risk of VTE, but a careful assessment of bleeding risk should be made before deciding on antithrombotic prophylaxis. Primary prevention of VTE is not recommended in cancer patients at increased risk of bleeding as patients with brain cancer, with moderate-to-severe thrombocytopenia or severe renal impairment.

PMID:37227679 | DOI:10.1007/s11739-023-03306-8

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PubMed articles on: Cancer & VTE/PE

A new anticoagulant strategy: the factor XI inhibitors

G Ital Cardiol (Rome). 2023 Jun;24(6):0-454. doi: 10.1714/4041.40204.

ABSTRACT

In the last 10 years the introduction of the direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) has revolutionized the anticoagulant treatment, one of the cornerstones of the therapy for cardiovascular diseases. Thanks to their efficacy at least not inferior compared to vitamin K antagonists and their better safety profile, particularly with regard to intracranial bleeding, DOACs are now the first choice for the prevention of cardioembolism in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation and for the treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE). Other areas of clinical use for DOACs include the prevention of VTE in orthopedic and oncology surgery and in outpatient cancer patients treated with anticancer therapy, or the use of low-dose in association with aspirin in patients with coronary or peripheral artery disease.An increased risk of gastrointestinal bleeding has been reported for some DOACs. In addition, DOACs have also experienced some failures including stroke prevention in patients with mechanical prosthetic valves or rheumatic diseases and VTE therapy in patients with antiphospholipid antibody syndrome. Also, no data are available on DOACs in some particular areas, including severe renal impairment and thrombocytopenia.In recent years, the clinical use of factor XI and factor XII inhibitors has been proposed. Currently, factor XI inhibitors have more clinical data than factor XII inhibitors. This article will report the rationale for the clinical use and the main evidences currently available on factor XI inhibitors.

PMID:37227204 | DOI:10.1714/4041.40204

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PubMed articles on: Cancer & VTE/PE

Effective long-term sirolimus treatment in hypoxemia mainly due to intrapulmonary right-to-left shunt in a patient with multiple vascular anomalies

Orphanet J Rare Dis. 2023 May 24;18(1):124. doi: 10.1186/s13023-023-02732-3.

ABSTRACT

Pulmonary arteriovenous malformations (PAVMs), particularly where feeding artery/arteries to PAVMs ≥ 3 mm can be treated with embolization. The treatment for hypoxemia resulting from multiple small or diffuse PAVMs remains unclear.We report a girl aged 5 years and 10 months presented with cyanosis and decreased activity after exercise (83-85% of pulse oxygen saturation, SpO2). She had 1 skin lesion on her face and 1 suspected hemangioma on her left upper extremity at birth and that gradually disappeared spontaneously. Physical examination revealed clubbed fingers, and abundant vascular networks on her back. Contrast-enhanced lung CT (slice thickness:1.25 mm) with vascular three-dimensional reconstruction and abdominal CT revealed increased bronchovascular bundles, increased diameter of the pulmonary artery and ascending aorta, and intrahepatic portosystemic venous shunts due to patent ductus venosus. Echocardiography revealed increased diameter of aortic and pulmonary artery. Transthoracic contrast echocardiography was highly positive (bubble appearing in the left ventricle after 5 cardiac cycles). Abdominal doppler ultrasound revealed hepatic-portal venous shunt. Magnetic resonance imaging, artery and vein of the brain revealed multiple malformations of venous sinuses. The patient received sirolimus for 2 years and 4 months. Her condition improved significantly. SpO2 gradually increased to 98%. Her finger clubbing gradually normalized.Our report implicates sirolimus might be a potential treatment option in persistent hypoxemia mainly due to intrapulmonary right-to-left shunt even small multiple or diffusive PAVMs in pediatric patients with multiple cutaneous and visceral vascular anomalies.

PMID:37226169 | PMC:PMC10206540 | DOI:10.1186/s13023-023-02732-3

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PubMed articles on: Cancer & VTE/PE

Safety of catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation in patients with cancer: a nationwide cohort study

Postgrad Med. 2023 May 29:1-7. doi: 10.1080/00325481.2023.2218188. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia in patients with cancer, especially breast, gastrointestinal, respiratory, urinary tract, and hematological malignancies. Catheter ablation (CA) is a well-established, safe treatment option in healthy patients; however, literature regarding safety of CA for AF in patients with cancer is limited and confined to single centers.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to assess the outcomes and peri-procedural safety of CA for AF in patients with certain types of cancer.

METHODS: The NIS database was queried between 2016 and 2019 to identify primary hospitalizations with AF and CA. Hospitalizations with secondary diagnosis of atrial flutter and other arrhythmias were excluded. Propensity score matching was used to balance the covariates between cancer and non-cancer groups. Logistic regression was used to analyze the association.

RESULTS: During this period, 47,765 CA procedures were identified, out of which 750 (1.6%) hospitalizations had a diagnosis of cancer. After propensity matching, hospitalizations with cancer diagnosis had higher in-hospital mortality (OR 3.0, 95% CI 1.5-6.2, p= 0.001), lower home discharge rates (OR 0.7, 95% CI 0.6-0.9, p< 0.001) as well as other complications such as major bleeding (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.3-2.7, p= 0.001) and pulmonary embolism (OR 6.1, 95% CI 2.1-17.8, p< 0.001) but not associated with any major cardiac complications (OR 1.2, 95% CI 0.7-1.8, p= 0.53).

CONCLUSION: Patients with cancer who underwent CA for AF had significantly higher odds of in-hospital mortality, major bleeding, and pulmonary embolism. Further larger prospective observational studies are needed to validate these findings.

PMID:37224412 | DOI:10.1080/00325481.2023.2218188

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PubMed articles on: Cardio-Oncology

Association of Circulating Cardiomyocyte Cell-Free DNA With Cancer Therapy-Related Cardiac Dysfunction in Patients Undergoing Treatment for ERBB2-Positive Breast Cancer

JAMA Cardiol. 2023 May 31. doi: 10.1001/jamacardio.2023.1229. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

IMPORTANCE: Cancer therapy-related cardiac dysfunction (CTRCD) is a potentially serious cardiotoxicity of treatments for ERBB2-positive breast cancer (formerly HER2). Identifying early biomarkers of cardiotoxicity could facilitate an individualized approach to cardiac surveillance and early pharmacologic intervention. Circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) of cardiomyocyte origin is present during acute cardiac injury but has not been established as a biomarker of CTRCD.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether circulating cardiomyocyte cfDNA is associated with CTRCD in patients with ERBB2-positive breast cancer treated with anthracyclines and ERBB2-targeted therapy.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A prospective cohort of 80 patients with ERBB2-positive breast cancer enrolled at an academic cancer center between July 2014 and April 2016 underwent echocardiography and blood collection at baseline, after receiving anthracyclines, and at 3 months and 6 months of ERBB2-targeted therapy. Participants were treated with doxorubicin-based chemotherapy followed by trastuzumab (+/- pertuzumab). The current biomarker study includes participants with sufficient biospecimen available for analysis after anthracycline therapy. Circulating cardiomyocyte-specific cfDNA was quantified by a methylation-specific droplet digital polymerase chain reaction assay. Data for this biomarker study were collected and analyzed from June 2021 through April 2022.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The outcome of interest was 1-year CTRCD, defined by symptomatic heart failure or an asymptomatic decline in left ventricular ejection fraction (≥10% from baseline to less than lower limit of normal or ≥16%). Values for cardiomyocyte cfDNA and high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hs-cTnI) measured after patients completed treatment with anthracyclines were compared between patients who later developed CTRCD vs patients who did not using the Wilcoxon rank sum test, and the association of post-anthracycline cardiomyocyte cfDNA level with CTRCD was estimated using logistic regression.

RESULTS: Of 71 patients included in this study, median (IQR) age was 50 (44-58) years, all were treated with dose-dense doxorubicin, and 48 patients underwent breast radiotherapy. Ten of 71 patients (14%) in this analysis developed CTRCD. The level of cardiomyocyte cfDNA at the post-anthracycline time point was higher in patients who subsequently developed CTRCD (median, 30.5 copies/mL; IQR, 24-46) than those who did not (median, 7 copies/mL; IQR, 2-22; P = .004). Higher cardiomyocyte cfDNA level after completion of anthracycline chemotherapy was associated with risk of CTRCD (hazard ratio, 1.02 per 1-copy/mL increase; 95% CI, 1.00-1.03; P = .046).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: This study found that higher cardiomyocyte cfDNA level after completion of anthracycline chemotherapy was associated with risk of CTRCD. Cardiomyocyte cfDNA quantification shows promise as a predictive biomarker to refine risk stratification for CTRCD among patients with breast cancer receiving cardiotoxic cancer therapy, and its use warrants further validation.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02177175.

PMID:37256614 | DOI:10.1001/jamacardio.2023.1229

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PubMed articles on: Cardio-Oncology

Comparative arrhythmia patterns among patients on tyrosine kinase inhibitors

J Interv Card Electrophysiol. 2023 May 31. doi: 10.1007/s10840-023-01575-z. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are widely used in the treatment of hematologic malignancies. Limited studies have shown an association between treatment-limiting arrhythmias and TKI, particularly ibrutinib, a Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor. We sought to comprehensively assess the arrhythmia burden in patients receiving ibrutinib vs non-BTK TKI vs non-TKI therapies.

METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of consecutive patients who received long-term cardiac event monitors while on ibrutinib, non-BTK TKIs, or non-TKI therapy for a hematologic malignancy between 2014 and 2022.

RESULTS: One hundred ninety-three patients with hematologic malignancies were included (ibrutinib = 72, non-BTK TKI = 46, non-TKI therapy = 75). The average duration of TKI therapy was 32 months in the ibrutinib group vs 64 months in the non-BTK TKI group (p = 0.003). The ibrutinib group had a higher prevalence of atrial fibrillation (n = 32 [44%]) compared to the non-BTK TKI (n = 7 [15%], p = 0.001) and non-TKI (n = 15 [20%], p = 0.002) groups. Similarly, the prevalence of non-sustained ventricular tachycardia was higher in the ibrutinib group (n = 31, 43%) than the non-BTK TKI (n = 8 [17%], p = 0.004) and non-TKI groups (n = 20 [27%], p = 0.04). TKI therapy was held in 25% (n = 18) of patients on ibrutinib vs 4% (n = 2) on non-BTK TKIs (p = 0.005) secondary to arrhythmias.

CONCLUSIONS: In this large retrospective analysis of patients with hematologic malignancies, patients receiving ibrutinib had a higher prevalence of atrial and ventricular arrhythmias compared to those receiving other TKI, with a higher rate of treatment interruption due to arrhythmias.

PMID:37256462 | DOI:10.1007/s10840-023-01575-z

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PubMed articles on: Cardio-Oncology

An unusual case of checkpoint-inhibitor-induced pleuropericarditis

J Oncol Pharm Pract. 2023 May 30:10781552231179369. doi: 10.1177/10781552231179369. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Pembrolizumab is an immune checkpoint inhibitor that promotes effector T-cell functions on malignant cells by binding to programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1). Pembrolizumab is well tolerated in most cases with an adverse event profile consisting mainly of pruritus, fatigue, and anorexia. Cardiotoxicity comprises 1% of the total adverse events.

CASE REPORT: We present a case of a 64-year-old female with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who developed pleuropericarditis following pembrolizumab therapy.

MANAGEMENT & OUTCOME: The patient was successfully managed with colchicine, furosemide, and timely initiation of methylprednisolone with the improvement of her symptoms. The decision to discontinue pembrolizumab was made, and six months after this intervention, the patient has remained asymptomatic.

DISCUSSION: Clinicians should recognize these potential immune-mediated adverse effects to provide effective and timely management and optimize patient care.

PMID:37254508 | DOI:10.1177/10781552231179369

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PubMed articles on: Cardio-Oncology

Quantitative cardiovascular magnetic resonance findings and clinical risk factors predict cardiovascular outcomes in breast cancer patients

PLoS One. 2023 May 30;18(5):e0286364. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0286364. eCollection 2023.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) global longitudinal strain and circumferential strain abnormalities have been associated with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) reduction and cardiotoxicity from oncologic therapy. However, few studies have evaluated the associations of strain and cardiovascular outcomes.

OBJECTIVES: To assess CMR circumferential and global longitudinal strain (GLS) correlations with cardiovascular outcomes including myocardial infarction, systolic dysfunction, diastolic dysfunction, arrhythmias and valvular disease in breast cancer patients treated with and without anthracyclines and/or trastuzumab therapy.

METHODS: Breast cancer patients with a CMR from 2013-2017 at Yale New Haven Hospital were included. Patient co-morbidities, medications, and cardiovascular outcomes were obtained from chart review. Biostatistical analyses, including Pearson correlations, competing risk regression model, and competing risk survival curves comparing the two groups were analyzed.

RESULTS: 116 breast cancer with CMRs were included in our analysis to assess differences between Anthracycline/Trastuzumab (AT) (62) treated versus non anthracycline/trastuzumab (NAT) (54) treated patients in terms of imaging characteristics and outcomes. More AT patients 17 (27.4%) developed systolic heart failure compared to the NAT group 6 (10.9%), p = 0.025. Statin use was associated with a significant reduction in future arrhythmias (HR 0.416; 95% CI 0.229-0.755, p = 0.004). In a sub-group of 13 patients that underwent stress CMR, we did not find evidence of microvascular dysfunction by sub-endocardial/sub-epicardial myocardial perfusion index ratio after adjusting for ischemic heart disease.

CONCLUSIONS: In our study, CMR detected signs of subclinical cardiotoxicity such as strain abnormalities despite normal LV function and abnormal circumferential strain was associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes such as valvular disease and systolic heart failure. Thus, CMR is an important tool during and after cancer treatment to identity and prognosticate cancer treatment-related cardiotoxicity.

PMID:37252927 | PMC:PMC10228774 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0286364

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PubMed articles on: Cardio-Oncology

Cardiotoxicities of Non-Chemotherapeutic Metastatic Breast Cancer Treatments

Curr Oncol Rep. 2023 May 30. doi: 10.1007/s11912-023-01427-z. Online ahead of print.