Standard Diagnostic Procedures With or Without Fludeoxyglucose F 18 Positron Emission Tomography in Finding Cancer in Patients With a Blood Clot in a Vein

OBJECTIVES:

Primary

• Demonstrate the efficacy, in terms of increased numbers of cancer diagnoses, of PET-CT with 18-FDG in patients with idiopathic venous thromboembolism.

Secondary

• Assess the risk of cancer detected at 1 year.
• Assess whether PET allows earlier detection of cancer.
• Evaluate survival.

OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study.

All patients undergo standard (clinical and biological) diagnostic tests for cancer. Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 diagnostic arms.

• Arm I: Patients undergo diagnostic fludeoxyglucose F 18 PET in addition to standard methods.
• Arm II: Patients only undergo standard diagnostic methods. Patients are followed up for 2 years.

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Diagnosis of idiopathic venous thromboembolism (IVTE) meeting 1 of the following criteria:

• Newly diagnosed
• Recurrent disease controlled by anticoagulant therapy
• No IVTE caused by a reversible major risk factor
• No IVTE caused by a major constitutional risk factor, including any of the following:

• Antiphospholipid antibody syndrome
• Antithrombin deficit
• Protein C
• Protein S

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

• Not pregnant
• No other known active cancer at the onset of IVTE