Potential Clinical Consequences of the Relationship Between Venous and Arterial Thrombosis

Objective: In this study, we aimed to explore the risk for atherothrombotic embolism (ATE) in patients with previous venous thromboembolism (VTE), as well as the risk for VTE in patients with ATE, by identifying shared risk factors for both venous and arterial embolisms detected by clinical, radiological and/or laboratory findings. Material and Methods: The present study was approved by Ethics Committee of Erciyes University Faculty of Medicine. It was conducted by reviewing retrospective data of 100 patients, consisting of 40 patients with ATE, 41 patients with VTE and 19 patients with ATE+VTE who were evaluated in Cardiovascular Surgery Department between September 1, 2012 and December 1, 2012. The inclusion criteria were men and women aged between 20-80 years with atherosclerotic coronary disease, atherosclerotic peripheral artery disease, cerebrovascular disease, deep venous thrombosis, pulmonary embolism or peripheral superficial venous thrombosis. Patients with gunshot or stabbing injuries and those with blunt vascular trauma were excluded. Results: We found that age, sex, body mass index, hospitalization longer than 10 days, elevated triglycerides, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and hypertension were insignificant risk factors for ATE and VTE (p=0.266, p=0.049, p=0.031, p=0.149, p=0.187, p=0.254, p=0.152, p=0.058, respectively). These risk factors increased the simultaneous occurrence risk of these two diseases. Statin use and anticoagulant use were found to be significant (p<0.001). It was seen that ATE and VTE became more prevalent in fall. Conclusion: We concluded that VTE and ATE were not absolutely independent diseases when etiological risk factors and clinical manifestations were considered.