Objective: The American Pediatric Surgical Association Outcomes and Evidence-Based Practice Committee conducted a systematic review to describe the epidemiology of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in pediatric surgical and trauma patients and develop recommendations for screening and prophylaxis.
Methods: The Medline (Ovid), Embase, Cochrane, and Web of Science databases were queried from January 2000 through December 2021. Search terms addressed the following topics: incidence, ultrasound screening, and mechanical and pharmacologic prophylaxis. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were followed. Consensus recommendations were derived based on the best available literature.
Results: One hundred twenty-four studies were included. The incidence of VTE in pediatric surgical populations is 0.29% (Range = 0.1%-0.48%) and directly correlates with surgery type, transfusion, prolonged anesthesia, malignancy, congenital heart disease, inflammatory bowel disease, infection, and female sex. The incidence of VTE in pediatric trauma populations is 0.25% (Range = 0.1%-0.8%) and directly correlates with injury severity, major surgery, central line placement, body mass index, spinal cord injury, and length-of-stay. Routine ultrasound screening for VTE is not recommended. Consider sequential compression devices in at-risk nonmobile, pediatric surgical patients when an appropriate sized device is available. Consider mechanical prophylaxis alone or with pharmacologic prophylaxis in adolescents >15 y and post-pubertal children <15 y with injury severity scores >25. When utilizing pharmacologic prophylaxis, low molecular weight heparin is superior to unfractionated heparin.
Conclusions: While VTE remains an infrequent complication in children, consideration of mechanical and pharmacologic prophylaxis is appropriate in certain populations.
Type of study: Systematic Review of level 2-4 studies.
Level of evidence: Level 3-4.
Keywords: Deep vein thrombosis; Pediatric; Surgery; Venous thromboembolism.
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