Clinical evaluation of pulmonary thromboembolism in gynecologic oncology operations: Analysis of nine patients in a university hospital

INTRODUCTION: To investigate the cases of pulmonary thromboembolism(PTE) and analyze the risk factors in patients undergoing gynecologic oncology operations.
METHODS: The medical records of all patients who underwent gynecologic oncologic surgery from January 2015 to September 2022 were collected from the hospital’s database. Patients with the diagnosis of PTE were retrieved and analyzed retrospectively.
RESULTS: 9 cases of clinically apparent PTE cases were identified from the medical records. The mean age of the cases was 56.1±3.4. The mean BMI was 27.2±1.4. The majority of cases were advanced stage ovarian malignancy which underwent a major surgery including pelvic-paraaortic lymphadenectomy (5/9). Dyspnea and shortness of breath was the main complaint. Tachypnea was the main finding in all cases. The leukocytosis and thrombocytosis were notable in PTE cases.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: PTE remains as one of the fatal complications after gynecologic surgeries. In our case cohort, increasing age, obesity and the complexity of surgery are significant predictors of pulmonary embolism in gynecologic oncology operations. Further multicenter studies stratifying risk factors are warranted to reach a proper prophylactic strategy and prevent PTE.