How common is blood clotting in patients with Hodgkin’s lymphoma?

This study investigated how often patients Hodgkin’s lymphoma (HL) experienced blood clots and what factors increased the risk of blood clots.  The authors found that patients with advanced HL were more likely to develop blood clots, particularly during chemotherapy, and that age, smoking status, and treatment frequency increased this risk.

HL is a cancer of white blood cells and is usually treated with chemotherapy. HL can be divided into three stages: early favorable HL, early unfavorable HL, and advanced HL. The treatment for each stage differs. One common complication that patients with HL experience is the development of blood clots.

Blood clotting is a side effect of both cancer and treatment such as chemotherapy. It can have a serious impact on a patient’s health. Previous studies investigated how common blood clots are for other types of cancer, but not in patients with HL. The risk factors associated with blood clotting in patients with HL and how common it occurs in these patients remains unclear.

This study analyzed the results of three different studies. These studies had 5773 patients with HL.  The risk of developing blood clots was evaluated based on disease stage, type of clotting and other risk factors. This data was collected within 1 year of patients participating in the studies.

Overall, 193 cases of blood clotting were reported (3.3%). This frequency was lowest in patients with early favorable HL (11 cases, 0.7%), followed by early unfavorable HL (27 cases, 1.3%). Significantly more patients with advanced HL had blood clotting (155 cases, 7.3%). These patients had a significantly higher incidence of clotting compared to patients with early HL (0.1% vs. 0.5%). Most clots were found in veins in the arms (46.3%) and legs (24.6%).

Most clots (78.9%) occurred during chemotherapy treatment. Almost half (40.6%) of these clots occurred within the first 2 months of treatment. Patients with advanced HL experienced significantly more clotting with standard chemotherapy (9.4%) compared to chemotherapy with stronger drugs (5.7%).

In addition to treatment, other factors increased the risk of blood clotting. Age increased this risk by 2% per year, and smoking increased this risk by 61%. 

This study concluded that patients with advanced HL were more likely to develop blood clots, particularly during chemotherapy. The authors suggest that anti-clotting medication may be recommended for patients with a high risk of developing blood clots.

The studies analyzed here had a short follow-up period of 1 year. Also, two-thirds of these studies excluded patients over age 60.  There were different numbers of patients in each HL stage group, so the results may not be easily comparable. More studies are needed to confirm these results.

Talk to your physician if you are concerned about developing blood clots.