Risk of thromboembolism in cisplatin versus carboplatin-treated patients with lung cancer

Kim ES, Baran AM, Mondo EL, et al. PLoS One. 2017 Dec 11;12(12):e0189410. [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Several studies have demonstrated that cisplatin-based regimen is associated with a high frequency of thromboembolic complications. All lung cancer patients treated with cisplatin or carboplatin at Wilmot Cancer Center, University of Rochester between 2011 and 2014 were included. Among 415 subjects, 317 patients (76.4%) received carboplatin and 98 (23.6%) patients received cisplatin. In the carboplatin group, 10.9% (33/302) of evaluable patients developed treatment-related TEEs vs. 14.7% (14/95) in the cisplatin group. There was no significant difference in the risk of developing TEEs between the two groups (P = 0.32). However, 15.2% of carboplatin-related TEEs were arterial thromboses compared to none in the cisplatin group. The incidence of carboplatin-related TEEs was high in lung cancer patients without significant difference in the risk of developing TEEs between cisplatin and carboplatin groups. The authors suggest that the potential use of prophylactic anticoagulation in all platinum-treated patients should be further investigated.