Abstract
Over the past two decades, the incidence and recognition of venous thromboembolism
(VTE) in children has significantly increased, likely as a result of improvements
in the medical care of critically ill patients and increased awareness of thrombotic
complications among medical providers. Current recommendations for the management
of VTE in children are largely based on data from pediatric registries and observational
studies, or extrapolated from adult data. The scarcity of high-quality evidence-based
recommendations has resulted in marked variations in the management of pediatric VTE
among providers. The purpose of this article is to summarize our institutional approach
for the management of VTE in children based on available evidence, guidelines, and
clinical practice considerations. Therapeutic strategies reviewed in this article
include the use of conventional anticoagulants, parenteral targeted anticoagulants,
new direct oral anticoagulants, thrombolysis, and mechanical approaches for the management
of pediatric VTE.
Keywords
venous thromboembolism - anticoagulants - thrombolytic therapy - pediatric
