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Patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) are at an increased risk for venous thromboembolism (VTE), but how treatment (surgery and chemotherapy) affects this risk has been unclear.
To study how disease stage and therapy are associated with VTE, investigators in the UK reviewed a cancer registry database covering about 4% of the English population. Patients identified with CRC were staged using the Dukes A–D classification system (A=tumor limited to epithelium with minimal muscle invasion; B=completely through the muscle; C=involvement of ≥1 regional lymph node; D=metastatic disease).
Of 10,309 patients with CRC, VTE developed in 555 (5.4%). VTE rates were lowest with Dukes A and highest with Dukes D; the cumulative incidence at 6 months from dia…