Should Patients with Unprovoked Venous Thromboembolisms Undergo Extensive Cancer Screening?

Routine evaluation might be equivalent to extensive screening.

For 150 years, people have suspected that venous thromboembolism (VTE) and cancer are related. However, in a recent large randomized trial, searching for occult cancer with computed tomography screening did not improve outcomes in patients with newly diagnosed VTEs (NEJM JW Gen Med Aug 1 2015 and N Engl J Med 2015; 373:697). Now, in a meta-analysis of individual patient data from prospective cohorts, investigators studied >2300 patients from 10 trials in which routine screening (history and physical exam, basic bloodwork, chest x-ray, and age- and sex-specific cancer screening) was compared with extensive cancer screening (adding advanced abdominal imaging or whole-body positron emission tomography/computed tomography [PET/CT] and tumor-mar…

Reviewing Author

Daniel D. Dressler, MD, MSc, SFHM, FACP

Disclosures

RoyaltiesMcGraw-Hill; Elsevier

Editorial BoardsMedical Clinics of North America; Caribbean Medical Journal International Advisory Panel (2021–2026)

Daniel D. Dressler, MD, MSc, SFHM, FACP

Disclosures

RoyaltiesMcGraw-Hill; Elsevier

Editorial BoardsMedical Clinics of North America; Caribbean Medical Journal International Advisory Panel (2021–2026)

Should Patients with Unprovoked Venous Thromboembolisms Undergo Extensive Cancer Screening?

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Reviewing Author