[Deep venous thrombosis and cancer in the elderly].

BACKGROUND

The aim of this study was the assessment of Deep Venous Thrombosis (DVT), and its relationship with malignant neoplasm in elderly.

METHODS

The study sample included six-hundred patients admitted to the University Department of Geriatric Medicine in Turin in 1997 (332 male and 268 female, mean age 77.7+/-8 year). Not-neoplastic subjects affected with DVT were followed up for two years. We analysed incidence of malignant cancer in this group and then it was compared with incidence of new neoplasm in subjects without DVT at baseline.

RESULTS

Prevalence of deep venous thrombosis at hospital admission and during the hospitalization was 4.8%. About 50% of patients with DVT had a related neoplastic disease. Patients with DVT were affected with malignant disease four times more than subjects without DVT. The risk of a neoplasm, during the two-years follow-up, was 6.8 times higher for patients with DVT at baseline in comparison with elderly without DVT. We didn't find significative differences between subjects with primary DVT and elderly with DVT due to neoplasm.

CONCLUSIONS

There is a wide association between DVT and malignant disease. For this reason a careful follow-up of people with DVT is recommended.