ABSTRACT Venous Thromboembolism is frequently associated with high-grade glioma; it is a cause of significant morbidity and mortality in these patients. The causes of this association are both tumor- and treatment-related; indeed, high-grade gliomas are able to produce factors that trigger coagulation and limb paresis is associated with a higher frequency in VTE; treatments such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and steroids have been reported as risk factors for DVT in glioma. Factors involved in coagulation and released by glioma cells may also favour tumor spread, ultimately leading to faster tumor progression; of note, anticoagulant therapy/LMWH treatment have been shown to display anti-tumor activity in tumors other than glioma, while this effect is still uninvestigated in glioma. We present a synthetic review of the literature on these topics, with a focus on unresolved issues such as the identification of subsets of patients at higher risk for VTE and the anti-tumor effect(s) of LMWH in glioma.
Buy this Article
|