The concentration of the majority of hemostatic proteins differs considerably in early life, especially in neonates compared to adulthood. Knowledge of the concept of developmental hemostasis is an essential prerequisite for the proper interpretation of conventional coagulation tests (CCT) and is critical to ensure the optimal diagnosis and treatment of hemorrhagic and thrombotic diseases in neonatal age. Viscoelastic tests (VETs) provide a point-of-care, real-time, global, and dynamic assessment of the mechanical properties of the coagulation system with the examination of both cellular and plasma protein contributions to the initiation, formation, and lysis of clots. In this work, we provide a narrative review of the basic principles of VETs and summarize current evidence regarding the two most studied point-of-care VETs, thromboelastography (TEG®) and rotational thromboelastometry (ROTEM®), in the field of neonatal care. A literature analysis shows that viscoelastic hemostatic monitoring appears to be a useful additive technique to CCT, allowing targeted therapy to be delivered quickly. These tools may allow researchers to determine the neonatal coagulation profile and detect neonatal patients at risk for postoperative bleeding, coagulation abnormalities in neonatal sepsis, and other bleeding events in a timely manner, guiding transfusion therapies using the goal-oriented transfusion algorithm. However, diagnosis and treatment algorithms incorporating VETs for neonatal patients in a variety of clinical situations should be developed and applied to improve clinical outcomes. Further studies should be performed to make routinary diagnostic and therapeutic application possible for the neonatal population.
Keywords: hemostasis; neonate; thromboelastography; thromboelastometry; viscoelastic testing.