Vascular Fingerprint Validation Study

Since the introduction of cisplatin in the late seventies (1), the prognosis of metastatic testicular cancer patients has dramatically improved, with long-term survival rates of 80-90% (2). However, cure rates are compromised by the increased risk of cardiovascular events (3-5). Approximately 1-5% of the patients with metastatic testicular cancer develop arterial cardiovascular events during or shortly after cisplatin- and bleomycin containing chemotherapy (3-7). Arterial cardiovascular events include ischemic stroke and myocardial infarction. These arterial events are a source of serious treatment-induced morbidity and mortality as recently clearly confirmed by Fung (8). No established standard prophylaxis is available. There is an unmet need to have the possibility to identify high risk patients before start of chemotherapy in whom prophylactic anti-coagulant treatment may prevent events (9). An identification tool could maximize the benefit of an intervention without introducing too much unnecessary harm: preventive interventions also carry risk.

Recent data from the investigators' cancer center showed that before chemotherapy 22% of the metastatic cancer patients had ≥3 of the following 5 traditional cardiovascular risk factors present (high risk vascular fingerprint, figure 1): overweight, smoking, hypertension, dyslipidemia and impaired blood glucose. These patients had an increased risk to develop arterial events during or early after chemotherapy: 19% of the patients with a high risk vascular fingerprint developed an arterial cardiovascular event whereas only 2% of the patients with ≤2 risk factors developed an event . The vascular fingerprint seems an easy method to identify which metastatic testicular cancer patients are at a high risk for early arterial events and who may benefit from prophylaxis with for example low molecular weight heparins (LMWHs). To be used in the clinic these data need to be confirmed in an independent cohort.