Unprovoked venous thromboembolism recurrence and arterial embolism revealing lung cancer: a case report

TL;DR

A patient with unprovoked pulmonary embolism later developed advanced lung cancer, highlighting the need for cancer screening in such cases.

Contribution

The case emphasizes the importance of early cancer screening in patients with unprovoked VTE to improve outcomes.

Findings

Unprovoked VTE can be an early sign of undiagnosed cancer.

Delayed cancer diagnosis in this case led to advanced-stage lung cancer.

Early screening for occult cancer may reduce mortality and morbidity.

Abstract

The link between venous thromboembolism (VTE) and cancer is well known. VTE could be the initial sign of an occult malignancy. There are more diagnoses of cancer after an unprovoked VTE compared to a provoked VTE, with a reported prevalence between 4.5% and 5.6% over 12 months, within the first 6 months of VTE diagnosis. There are no recommended guidelines and scores yet adopted in clinical practice, but many studies support occult cancer screening in unprovoked VTE patients. We report the case of a patient with a history of unprovoked pulmonary embolism (PE) diagnosed with bronchopulmonary neoplasm in an advanced stage one year after the thromboembolic event. When the cancer was first diagnosed, the patient’s condition was already serious, being too late for the adoption of measures meant to decrease the risk of mortality and increase the duration of survival. We wanted to emphasize the importance of occult cancer screening in patients with unprovoked VTE and the fact that early cancer diagnosis reduces the risk of cancer progression, decreasing mortality and morbidity related to it.

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