Abstract
Background: The most common malignancy in women is breast cancer. It is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. One of the under estimated complications with breast cancer is the abnormalities occurring in the coagulation profile of patients. Objective: The aim of the study is to assess the coagulation profile of patients with breast cancer in Saudi Arabia. Design and Setting: This is a retrospective study conducted in kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which involved collecting data from patients' records. Included demographic information of patients, and information on their type of cancer and the results of laboratory investigations. Data analysis was executed through Graph pad prism and SPSS. Results: Data was collected from records of 105 patients. 88.6% were females; mean age 56.9 +/- 14.5 years old, 60% were in the age group between 41 to 60. 95.2% of patients had cancer, where 31.4% of the patients had breast cancer, and 41% had invasive duct carcinoma, while 3.8% had infiltrating duct carcinoma. 18.1% had high random blood glucose, while 3.8% had high PTT values, and 16.2% had high PT levels, while 2.9% had high INR levels. Random blood glucose (p-value=0.03), PTT (p-value=0.043), PT (p-value<0.001) and INR (p-value<0.001) were significantly higher in breast cancer patients. Also, lower proportion of breast cancer patients had normal random blood glucose (p-value=0.009), PT (p-value=0.029) and INR (p-value=0.025). Conclusion: Breast cancer patients are more common to have coagulation abnormalities in terms of elevated bleeding risk. Future studies should examine the other coagulation factors in such patient population.