European Journal of Cancer
Volume 45, Issue 17 , Pages 2984-2991, November 2009

What is the impact of antithrombotic therapy and risk factors on the frequency of thrombovascular events in patients with metastatic breast cancer receiving epoetin beta?

  • Matti Aapro

      Affiliations

    • Institut Multidisciplinaire d’Oncologie, Clinique de Genolier, CH-1272 Genolier, Switzerland
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author: Tel.: +41 (22) 366 91 06; fax: +41 (22) 366 91 31.
  • ,
  • Agustí Barnadas

      Affiliations

    • Hospital de Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain
  • ,
  • Robert C. Leonard

      Affiliations

    • Cancer Services and Clinical Haematology, Imperial College, Charing Cross Hospital, London, UK
  • ,
  • Maurizio Marangolo

      Affiliations

    • Divisione Oncologia, Ospedale Provinciale Sta Maria delle Croci, Ravenna, Italy
  • ,
  • Michael Untch

      Affiliations

    • Helios Klinikum, Berlin Buch, Germany
  • ,
  • Lidia Ukarma

      Affiliations

    • Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Basel, Switzerland
  • ,
  • Hans-Ulrich Burger

      Affiliations

    • Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Basel, Switzerland
  • ,
  • Armin Scherhag

      Affiliations

    • Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Basel, Switzerland
    • I. Medical Clinic, University Hospital Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Germany
  • ,
  • Bruno Osterwalder

      Affiliations

    • Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Basel, Switzerland

Received 18 September 2008; received in revised form 5 June 2009; accepted 26 June 2009. published online 31 July 2009.

Abstract 

Purpose, patients and methods

This retrospective analysis of the BRAVE study evaluated the impact of baseline risk factors and antithrombotic therapy on the risk of thrombovascular events (TVEs) in patients receiving epoetin compared to patients not receiving epoetin.

Results

Baseline risk factors have a significant impact on TVE risk under epoetin therapy. More than 2 risk factors increased the risk of TVEs in patients receiving epoetin (hazard ratio [HR] 2.89, confidence interval [CI] 1.04–8.02, p value [p]=0.04). In patients on epoetin without antithrombotic therapy, the risk for TVEs was higher (HR 4.11, CI 1.37–12.4, p=0.01) compared to those who received antithrombotics (HR 1.37, CI 0.59–3.18, p=0.45).

Conclusions

Our analysis has identified several risk factors which may impact the risk of TVEs under epoetin therapy. These data suggest that antithrombotic therapy may have the potential to reduce the risk of TVEs under epoetin therapy. These findings are hypothesis-generating and need to be confirmed in a prospective, randomised study.

Keywords: Anaemia, Breast cancer, Epoetin, Thrombovascular events

 

PII: S0959-8049(09)00512-7

doi:10.1016/j.ejca.2009.06.031

European Journal of Cancer
Volume 45, Issue 17 , Pages 2984-2991, November 2009