Analysis of clinical characteristics of cancer patients with acute pulmonary embolism

Zang Wenqian; Gao Pengfei; Wang Wei; Chen Bo; Hu Jinjin; Li Hengyun; Mao Yimin

doi:10.3760/j.issn.1673-4777.2025.10.008

Abstract：Objective To analyze patients admitted to the hospital for acute pulmonary embolism,and to describe the clinical characteristics and in-hospital outcomes of patients with or without cancer.Methods The clinical data of 1 931 patients with acute pulmonary embolism admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Science & Technology from July 2011 to February 2023 were retrospectively analyzed.According to the presence or absence of cancer,they were divided into cancer group(307 cases)and non-cancer group(1 624 cases).Clinical characteristics and in-hospital outcomes were compared between the two groups.Results The proportions of dyspnea,chest pain,syncope and fever in the cancer group were lower than those in the non-cancer group(all P＜0.05).The proportion of patients without clinical symptoms in the cancer group(19.9％)was about three times higher than that in the non-cancer group(7.4％,P＜0.001).In terms of European Society of Cardiology risk stratification of pulmonary embolism,there was no significant difference in the proportion of high risk between the two groups(P=0.214).There were significant differences in international normalized ratio,prothrombin time ratio,prothrombin activity,prothrombin time and fibrinogen between the two groups(all P＜0.05).The predicted in-hospital mortality was 14.7％(45/307)in cancer group and 8.3％(135/1 624)in non-cancer group,and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant(x2=12.298,P＜0.001).Conclusions The proportion of patients with no clinical symptoms in the cancer group was approximately three times higher than that in the non-cancer group,and in addition to a more severe hypercoagulable state,the absence of clinical symptoms may be an important cause of poor prognosis.