PO69 | INCIDENTAL CANCER DETECTED DURING EMERGENCY DIAGNOSTIC WORK-UP FOR ACUTE PULMONARY EMBOLISM: A RETROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY
L. Mocerino1, A. Casoria2, S. Mangiacapra2, M. Amitrano2, V. Bassi3, A. Tufano1 | 1Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery. Federico II University of Naples, Italy; 2Internal Medicine Unit, Moscati Hospital, Avellino, Italy; 3U.O.C. di Medicina Generale e Lungodegenza, San Giovanni Bosco Hospital, ASL; Na1 Centro, Naples, Italy
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Authors
Background. Pulmonary embolism (PE) may represent the first clinical manifestation of an occult malignancy. The prevalence of incidentally detected cancer during emergency department (ED) diagnostic work-up for acute PE remains incompletely characterized, particularly in the presence of provoking factors.
Objectives. To estimate the prevalence of incidental cancer detected during ED investigations for acute PE, to describe the cancer types, and to distinguish between provoked and unprovoked PE cases.
Methods. We conducted a retrospective observational study including 93 consecutive patients admitted with acute PE. Incidental cancer was defined as a previously unknown malignancy detected during diagnostic investigations performed for PE in the ED. PE was classified as provoked or unprovoked based on the presence of identifiable transient or persistent risk factors.
Results. Incidental cancer was detected in 21 of 93 patients (22.6%). Lung cancer was the most frequent malignancy (33.3%), followed by colorectal cancer (23.8%). Notably, 19 of 21 incidental cancers (90.5%) occurred in patients with unprovoked PE, whereas only 2 cases (9.5%) were observed among patients with provoked PE. The prevalence of incidental cancer was 32.8% in unprovoked PE compared with 5.7% in provoked PE. Median age was 75 years (IQR 65–81), and 53.8% of patients were female.
Conclusions. In this cohort, nearly one quarter of patients presenting with acute PE had an incidentally detected malignancy during PE work-up, with the vast majority occurring in unprovoked PE setting. These findings reinforce the role of unprovoked PE as a potential early marker of occult cancer and support careful evaluation of incidental imaging findings in this population.
Downloads
Citations
How to Cite
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Most read articles by the same author(s)
- Società Italiana di Emostasi e Trombosi, PO08 | NEXT-GENERATION THROMBOLYTICS: ENGINEERING STREPTOKINASE FOR ENHANCED ACTIVITY AND REDUCED IMMUNOGENICITY , Bleeding, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology: Vol. 5 No. s1 (2026)
- Società Italiana di Emostasi e Trombosi, PO17 | PREDICTIVE VALUE OF INFLAMMATORY AND ENDOTHELIAL BIOMARKERS FOR CANCER RISK IN HEALTHY INDIVIDUALS: EVIDENCE FROM THE HYPERCAN STUDY , Bleeding, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology: Vol. 5 No. s1 (2026)
- Società Italiana di Emostasi e Trombosi, PO25 | EVOLUTION OF ANTICOAGULANT STRATEGIES AND CLINICAL OUTCOMES IN CANCER-ASSOCIATED THROMBOSIS: A LONGITUDINAL ANALYSIS OF THE START2 REGISTRY ONCO-VTE , Bleeding, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology: Vol. 5 No. s1 (2026)
- Società Italiana di Emostasi e Trombosi, PO43 | ELEVATED CIRCULATING TISSUE PLASMINOGEN ACTIVATOR LEVELS PREDICT GASTROINTESTINAL AND BREAST CANCER RISK: A PROSPECTIVE NESTED CASE-COHORT STUDY , Bleeding, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology: Vol. 5 No. s1 (2026)
- Società Italiana di Emostasi e Trombosi, PO54 | CANCER-ASSOCIATED THROMBOSIS IN ASPIRIN-TREATED PATIENTS AFTER ARTERIAL THROMBOSIS: THE COMPASS-ARTECAT-ASA PROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY , Bleeding, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology: Vol. 5 No. s1 (2026)
- Società Italiana di Emostasi e Trombosi, PO01 | MELANOMA-DERIVED EXTRACELLULAR VESICLES DRIVE VON WILLEBRAND FACTOR–DEPENDENT THROMBOSIS AND METASTASIS , Bleeding, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology: Vol. 5 No. s1 (2026)
- Società Italiana di Emostasi e Trombosi, PO09 | CANCER MORTALITY AFTER INCIDENT VENOUS THROMBOEMBOLISM , Bleeding, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology: Vol. 5 No. s1 (2026)
- Società Italiana di Emostasi e Trombosi, PO26 | OUTCOMES OF DIRECT ORAL ANTICOAGULANTS IN UNUSUAL-SITE THROMBOSIS: IMPACT OF ACTIVE CANCER , Bleeding, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology: Vol. 5 No. s1 (2026)
- Società Italiana di Emostasi e Trombosi, PO35 | A MULTICENTRE AUDIT OF CURRENT TUMOUR THROMBOSIS MANAGEMENT IN THE UNITED KINGDOM , Bleeding, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology: Vol. 5 No. s1 (2026)
- Società Italiana di Emostasi e Trombosi, PO45 | KHORANA RISK SCORE AND GENOMIC PROFILING FOR PREDICTION OF VENOUS THROMBOEMBOLISM IN OVARIAN CANCER , Bleeding, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology: Vol. 5 No. s1 (2026)
