Primary thromboprophylaxis in not surgically treated intra-luminal gastrointestinal cancer (ILGC) treated with first-line chemotherapy: A single institution preliminary safety report.

Occurrence of venous thromboembolism in cancer patients (patients) undergoing chemotherapy is a remarkable concern for the oncologist. In addition, careful attention has to be paid to the possible major bleeding when patients carrying gastrointestinal cancer need antithrombotic therapies. To date some Cancer Associated Thrombosis (CAT) risk scores as Khorana and PROTECHT score have been developed to identify the cancer population at high-risk for venous thromboembolism (VTE). Consensus guidelines recommend to consider also low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) for primary thromboprophylaxis in high-risk patients. This is a report on a retrospective case series of 15 intra-luminal not surgically treated gastrointestinal cancer patients deemed high risk for VTE. The patients had a Khorana or PROTECHT score of 2 points or more (at least ≥ 2 points). They were undergoing first line chemotherapy in the absence of endoscopic signs of cancer spontaneous bleeding. A prophylactic dose of LMWH was administered just before starting the chemotherapy session and until 48 hours after its completion. The authors mainly aimed to report occurrence of clinically perceptible gastrointestinal bleeding events. Fifteen patients were administered LMWH - median age: 59 (range: 42-79); gender: male 12 (80%); tumor type: stomach - 13 patients (86%); gastro-esophageal junction: 2 patients (14%). Duration of heparin treatment: the total treatment duration was 228 days; mean 15.2 days (range: 5-45); nadroparin: mean 14.7 days (range: 5-45); enoxaparin: mean 10.1 days (range: 5-20); parnaparin: a total of 5 days. None of the patients experienced perceptible gastrointestinal bleeding. Short-term LMWH thromboprophylaxis appeared to be safe for this series of patients.

Bone and lymph node metastases from occult mammary carcinoma: a case report of carcinoma of unknown primary (CUP) Syndrome.

Cancer of unknown provenance is a rare disease, accounting approximately for up to 1% of all breast cancers. A 68-year-old female was admitted to the Medical Oncology Unit of Policlinico Universitario G.Martino because of diffused bone-involvement, with mixed (osteolytic/osteoblastic) features, which interested almost every skeletal structure of the body (vertebral bodies of the entire column, costal skeleton, sternum, proximal third of both humeri, scapulae, clavicles, pelvis and femurs), suspicious for metastatic disease.