Application value of Caprini risk assessment model and elevated tumor-specific D-dimer level in predicting postoperative venous thromboembolism for patients undergoing surgery of gynecologic malignancies.

AIM: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in gynecologic malignant patients after surgery. We aimed to validate the Caprini risk assessment model (RAM) and elevated tumor-specific D-dimer as predictive marker of postoperative VTE for patients undergoing surgery of gynecologic malignancies.

METHODS: Inpatients were divided into five groups (low: score = 0-1; moderate: score = 2; high: score = 3-4; higher: score = 5-7; sup-high: score > 7) and treated according to their risk level after the surgery during the hospitalization according to the Caprini RAM. D-dimer level was detected during the perioperative period. If D-dimer did not fall to normal reference range on the seventh day after operation, the use of low-molecular-weight heparin was prolonged to 28 days after surgery.

RESULTS: The majority (853/974, 87.6%) of the patients was in the Caprini score ≥5, with an overall VTE incidence of 1.75%. The VTE group had significantly higher Caprini score, CA125, vascular invasion rate and lymph node metastasis rate. If 1.5 μg/mL was used as the D-dimer cut-off value to predicting VTE, the sensitivity was 87.5%, the specificity was 93.8% and the negative predictive value was 99.2%. The D-dimer level was a marker for prolonging the anticoagulants use during the perioperative period, especially for the sup-high group.

CONCLUSION: The Caprini RAM is an effective and reliable VTE risk prediction tool for patients undergoing gynecological malignant tumor surgery. The group (score ≥ 5) can be divided into two subgroups (higher: score = 5-7 and sup-high: score > 7), which may better predict the occurrence of VTE for malignant tumor patients. Great than 1.5 μg/mL D-dimer before operation should be given more attention for the presence of VTE.