BACKGROUND Venous thromboembolism (VTE) may lead to diminished quality of life and ultimately worse prognosis in cancer patients, but there is limited data on the incidence, risk factors and mortality impact of VTE in Asian primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) patients.

OBJECTIVES To report the incidence, risk factors and mortality impact of VTE in Asian PCNSL patients.

METHODS From 7 academic centers in Korea, 235 newly diagnosed PCNSL patients undergoing chemotherapy were retrospectively identified during period of January 2004 to September 2018.

RESULTS All patients but 12 (6 T-cell, 6 other B-cell) had diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. During the median follow-up of 21 months, 33 patient (14.0%) developed VTE. Of the VTE events, 11 (33.3%) were deep vein thrombosis (DVT), 15 (45.5%) were pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE), and 7 (21.2%) were DVT with PTE. The median time to VTE was 2 months and the one-year actuarial incidence was 11.7%. On multivariate analysis, ECOG performance ≥2, age >60 years, female sex, and Hb <10 g/dL were independently associated with VTE. The patients with VTE were associated with shorter disease specific survival (P = 0.046) and overall survival (P = 0.022).

CONCLUSION Overall, the incidence of VTE in Asian PCNSL seems to be lower compared to Western population. As VTE development is associated with overall survival and indicative of relapse, careful close monitoring is warranted.