Pathogenic Mechanisms of Venous Thromboembolism in Ovarian Tumor Patients

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a serious complication of ovarian cancer. However, the mechanism of thrombus formation in ovarian cancer has not been sufficiently clarified. We aimed to examine the pathogenic mechanism of thromboembolism in patients with ovarian tumors before surgery using the activated protein C sensitive ratio (APC-sr) and endogenous thrombin potential (ETP) measurements in plasma. The incidence of thromboembolism in patients with ovarian tumors was determined. APC-sr and ETP were measured from plasma samples obtained from ovarian tumor patients before surgery at our hospital. There were 60 enrolled patients. Thrombosis was found in 10 patients, of which 9 had ovarian cancer and 1 had borderline malignancy. The incidence of thromboembolism was significantly higher in cases of ovarian cancer than in cases of benign and borderline tumors (p < 0.001). However, APC-sr and ETP did not differ between patients with and without thromboembolism (p = 0.681, 0.796). APC-sr and ETP may not be involved in the pathogenic mechanism of thromboembolism in patients with ovarian tumors before surgery. Thus, other approaches should be considered for detecting the pathogenic mechanism of thromboembolism in this population.