Prevalence of post-thrombotic syndrome in a cohort of upper extremity vein thrombosis.

OBJECTIVE: Post-thrombotic syndrome (PTS) is one of the main complications that occurs after venous thrombosis. There are few data on the proportion of patients that will develop upper extremity PTS (UE-PTS) after upper extremity venous thrombosis (UEVT). The main objective of the study was to assess the prevalence of PTS in a UEVT cohort and to identify predictive factors of UE-PTS. METHODS: This study included patients with a history of proximal or arm UEVT, diagnosed on duplex ultrasound examination, between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2017, in a university hospital. After UEVT, each patient was evaluated by a prospective standardized recording of clinical manifestations and duplex ultrasound examination in case of upper limb symptoms. UE-PTS was defined as a modified Villalta score of 4 or higher. RESULTS: Ninety-two patients were included; 68 (73.9%) had deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and 24 (19.2%) arm superficial vein thrombosis. Thirteen patients had PTS (14.1%), 12 (17.6%) in the DVT group and 1 (4.2%) in the superficial vein thrombosis group. There was a history of DVT in 92.3% of the cases of PTS. PTS was more frequent in patients with strokes with limb movement reduction (P = .01). On multivariate Cox analysis, a history of stroke (hazard ratio, 5.4; 95% confidence interval, 1.46-20.22; P = .01) was predictive of UE-PTS. CONCLUSIONS: UE-PTS occurred in 14.1% of cases after UEVT. Stroke with a decrease in limb movement was a predictor of developing PTS. Diagnostic criteria should be established for UE-PTS and prospective studies are needed to improve the description and management of UE-PTS.

Rivaroxaban vs Dalteparin in Cancer-Associated Thromboembolism: A Randomized Trial.

BACKGROUND: Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) are an alternative to low-molecular-weight heparin for treating cancer-associated VTE. RESEARCH QUESTION: Is rivaroxaban as efficient and safe as dalteparin to treat patients with cancer-associated VTE? STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: In a randomized open-label noninferiority trial, patients with active cancer who had proximal DVT, pulmonary embolism (PE), or both were assigned randomly to therapeutic doses of rivaroxaban or dalteparin for 3 months. The primary outcome was the cumulative incidence of recurrent VTE, a composite of symptomatic or incidental DVT or PE, and worsening of pulmonary vascular or venous obstruction at 3 months. RESULTS: Of 158 randomized patients, 74 and 84 patients were assigned to receive rivaroxaban and dalteparin, respectively. Mean age was 69.4 years, and 115 patients (76.2%) had metastatic disease. The primary outcome occurred in 4 and 6 patients in the rivaroxaban and dalteparin groups, respectively (both the intention-to-treat and per-protocol populations: cumulative incidence, 6.4% vs 10.1%; subdistribution hazard ratio [SHR], 0.75; 95% CI, 0.21-2.66). Major bleeding occurred in 1 and 3 patients in the rivaroxaban and dalteparin groups, respectively (cumulative incidence, 1.4% vs 3.7%; SHR, 0.36; 95% CI, 0.04-3.43). Major or clinically relevant nonmajor bleeding occurred in 9 and 8 patients in the rivaroxaban and dalteparin groups, respectively (cumulative incidence, 12.2% vs 9.8%; SHR, 1.27; 95% CI, 0.49-3.26). Overall, 19 patients (25.7%) and 20 patients (23.8%) died in the rivaroxaban and dalteparin groups, respectively (hazard ratio, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.56-1.97). INTERPRETATION: In this trial comparing rivaroxaban and dalteparin in the treatment of cancer-associated VTE, the number of patients was insufficient to reach the predefined criteria for noninferiority, but efficacy and safety results were consistent with those previously reported with DOACs. An updated meta-analysis of randomized trials comparing DOACs with low-molecular-weight heparin in patients with cancer-associated VTE is provided. TRIAL REGISTRY: ClinicalTrials.gov; No.: NCT02746185; URL: www. CLINICALTRIALS: gov.

Predictive factors of venous recanalization in upper-extremity vein thrombosis.

BACKGROUND: Upper extremity venous thrombosis (UEVT) represents about 10% of venous thrombo-embolic disease. This is mainly explained by the increasing use of central venous line, for oncologic or nutritional care. The factors associated with venous recanalization are not known. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate prognosis factor associated with venous recanalization after UEVT. METHODS: This study included patients with UEVT diagnosed with duplex ultra-sonography (DUS) from January 2015 to December 2017 with DUS evaluations during follow-up. A multivariate Cox proportional-hazards-model analysis was performed to identify predictive factors of UEVT complete recanalization. RESULTS: This study included 494 UEVT, 304 proximal UEVT and 190 distal UEVT. The median age was 58 years, 39.5% were women. Clinical context was: hematological malignancy (40.7%), solid cancer (14.2%), infectious or inflammatory context (49.9%) and presence of venous catheters or pacemaker leads in 86.4%. The rate of recanalization without sequelae of UEVT was 38%. For all UEVT, in multivariate analysis, factors associated with complete vein recanalization were: thrombosis associated with central venous catheter (CVC) (HR:2.40, [1.45;3.95], p<0.001), UEVT limited to a venous segment (HR:1.94, [1.26;3.00], p = 0.003), occlusive thrombosis (HR:0.48 [0.34;0.67], p<0.0001), the presence of a PICC Line (HR:2.29, [1.48;3.52], p<0.001), a thrombosis of deep and distal topography (HR:1.70, [1.10;2.63], p = 0.02) or superficial thrombosis of the forearm (HR:2.79, [1.52;5.12], p<0.001). For deep and proximal UEVT, non-occlusive UEVT (HR:2.23, [1.49;3.33], p<0.0001), thrombosis associated with CVC (HR:1.58, [1.01;2.47], p = 0.04) and infectious or inflammatory context (HR:1.63, [1.10;2.41], p = 0.01) were factors associated with complete vein recanalization. CONCLUSION: In this study, factors associated with UEVT recanalization were UEVT limited to a venous segment, thrombosis associated with CVC, a thrombosis of deep and distal thrombosis topography and superficial thrombosis of the forearm. Occlusive thrombosis was associated with the absence of UEVT recanalization.

Digital ischaemia aetiologies and mid-term follow-up: A cohort study of 323 patients.

ABSTRACT: Upper extremity digital ischaemia (UEDI) is a rare heterogeneous condition whose frequency is 40 times less than that of toe ischaemia. Using a large cohort, the aim of this study was to evaluate aetiologies, prognosis and midterm clinical outcomes of UEDI.All patients with UEDI with or without cutaneous necrosis in a university hospital setting between January 2000 to December 2016 were included. Aetiologies, recurrence of UEDI, digital amputation and survival were analyzed retrospectively.Three hundred twenty three patients were included. UEDI due to cardio-embolic disease (DICE) was the highest occurring aetiology with 59 patients (18.3%), followed by DI due to Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) (16.1%), idiopathic causes (11.7%), Thromboangiitis obliterans (TAO) (9.3%), iatrogenic causes (9.3%), and cancer (6.2%). DICE patients tended to be older and featured more cases with arterial hypertension whereas TAO patients smoked more tobacco and cannabis. During follow-up, recurrences were significantly more frequent in SSc than in all other tested groups (P < .0001 vs idiopathic and DICE, P = .003 vs TAO) and among TAO patients when compared to DICE patients (P = .005). The cumulated rate of digital amputation was higher in the SSc group (n = 18) (P = .02) and the TAO group (n = 7) (P = .03) than in DICE (n = 2).This retrospective study suggests that main aetiologies of UEDI are DICE, SSc and idiopathic. This study highlights higher frequency of iatrogenic UEDI than previous studies. UEDI associated with SSc has a poor local prognosis (amputations and recurrences) and DICE a poor survival. UEDI with SSc and TAO are frequently recurrent.