Venous Thromboembolism in Pediatric Orthopedics

Abstract

Venous thromboembolism (VTE), as deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary thromboembolism is a major clinical complication of orthopedic surgeries in adult population. To answer the question of how often and in what circumstances the surgeon should be worried about it in pediatric patients; the current paper reviewed the recent publications on the matter. It seems that the incidence of VTE increased and certain clinical conditions have strong relationships with it. It is uncertain that the increased reported incidence of VTE in pediatric population is due to unknown conditions or it just reflects the advanced diagnostic tools. Whatever the cause is, it is known that age increase, trauma severity and a number of other medical interventions and medical conditions directly affect the VTE occurrence in children. There is no evidence for prophylactic VTE treatment in pediatric orthopedic patients yet. Further information is under investigation in multiple large studies which may change the current opinion.