Incidence of hemorrhagic complications in patients with cancer

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Abstract
The incidence and type of hemorrhage were studied in 718 patients with solid tumors. All patients were receiving myelosuppressive chemotherapeutic agents. Seventy-five patients (10.4%) experienced 1 or more episodes of hemorrhage. Bleeding was due to tumor invasion in 25 patients (33.3%), disseminated intravascular coagulation in 7 patients (9.3%) and was unrelated to malignant neoplasms or drug treatment in 6 patients (8%). Thirty-seven patients (49.3%) had hemorrhages associated with drug-induced thrombocytopenia. There was a quantitative relationship between the incidence of hemorrhage and platelet count for thrombocytopenic and total groups of patients with hemorrhages from all causes. The incidence of hemorrhage was low until the platelet count decreased below 10,000/mm3.