Procoagulant activity in gynaecological cancer patients; the effect of surgery and chemotherapy

Background Gynaecological cancers are associated with high rates of venous thromboembolism (VTE). Studies on ambulatory cancer patients do not support thromboprophylaxis during chemotherapy. Approximately 6–7% of gynaecological cancer patients suffer a postoperative VTE despite Low Molecular Weight Heparin prophylaxis (LMWH). Large cancer studies have shown that Calibrated Automated Thrombogram (CAT) and Microparticles (MP) assays may be useful in predicting VTE but data on gynaecological cancer patients is scarce. Objective Our objective was to identify whether the CAT assay and MP functional assays have potential as biomarkers predictive of VTE in gynaecological cancer patients. Patients and methods Gynaecological cancer patients were investigated before surgery (n = 146) and at 5, 14 and 42 days post-surgery (n = 78). Fourteen additional patients were investigated before chemotherapy and after 3 and 6 cycles of therapy. Thrombin generation was measured before and after addition of thrombomodulin. Results Patients with clear cell cancer (CCC) of the ovary and patients with endometrial cancer had higher ETP and peak thrombin compared with patients with benign disease. Patients who developed VTE (n = 8) following surgery had enhanced thrombin generation prior to surgery which persisted during the post-operative period despite LMWH prophylaxis. Both neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy showed increased thrombin generation following addition of thrombomodulin. There were no differences in MP levels during the study. Conclusions CAT assay shows potential as a promising biomarker for the prediction of VTE in gynaecological cancer patients. The identification of high risk patients combined with individualised LMWH prophylaxis might reduce VTE in this high risk group.