Screening for Occult Cancer in Patients with Venous Thromboembolism: Past, Present, and Future

AbstractA strong link between cancer and thrombosis has been well recognized. The occurrence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) can be the first clinical sign of an undiagnosed (i.e., occult) cancer. Cancer is more often diagnosed after unprovoked compared with provoked VTE events, with a reported risk in recent studies of around 5%. Extensive, imaging-based screening strategies to detect occult cancer after unprovoked VTE do not appear to have a clear clinical benefit compared with a more limited cancer screening. To identify patients with unprovoked VTE at high risk of occult cancer, risk factors have been explor…