Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis in High-Risk Pediatric Trauma Patients
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Amanda B. Witte; Kyle Van Arendonk; Carisa Bergner; Martin Bantchev; Richard A. Falcone Jr; Suzanne Moody; Heather A. Hartman; Emily Evans; Rajan Thakkar; Kelli N. Patterson; Peter C. Minneci; Grace Z. Mak; Mark B. Slidell; MacKenton Johnson; Matthew P. Landman; Troy A. Markel; Charles M. Leys; Linda Cherney Stafford; Jessica Draper; David S. Foley; Cynthia Downard; Tracy M. Skaggs; Dave R. Lal; David Gourlay; Peter F. Ehrlich.
Question: Does the application of high-risk guidelines allow for safe and appropriate administration of venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis following pediatric trauma?
Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study was completed between October 2019 and October 2022 in 8 free-standing pediatric hospitals designated as American College of Surgeons level I pediatric trauma centers. Participants were pediatric trauma patients younger than 18 years who met defined high-risk criteria on admission. It was hypothesized that cVTE would be safe and reduce the incidence of VTE.
Findings: In this cohort study applying high-risk criteria to guide VTE prophylaxis, more than half of patients received prophylaxis without any documented bleeding complications. Increased time to prophylaxis initiation was significantly associated with increased likelihood of developing VTE.
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What's the best way to prevent blood clots in pediatric trauma patients? I'm Lizzie Lee from Cincinnati Children's Hospital, and this is an article you should know about. Pediatric trauma patients are at high risk for developing blood clots, also known as VTE or venous thromboembolism. This cohort study was done from 2019 to 2022 in eight pediatric trauma centers and included kids younger than 18 years old. So what did they find? Among the 460 high-risk patients in this study, more than half of them received chemical VTE prophylaxis. They found that the longer you delay giving blood thinners beyond 24 hours of the patient arriving to the hospital, the higher the risk of blood clots. This study shows that VTE prophylaxis is safe and effective for pediatric trauma patients and needs to be started within 24 hours of admission to the hospital. Let us know what you think in the comments below and stay tuned for more articles that you should know about.