Coagulation Conversation

Enjoying life on anticoagulants

  • Home
  • Start here
  • Diagnosis
    • DVT – clot in the leg
    • PE – clot in the lungs
    • AF – Atrial fibrillation
    • Heart valve replacement
    • Reaching your Diagnosis
  • Treatment
    • enoxaparin (clexane)
    • Warfarin
    • dabigatran (Pradaxa)
  • Pharmacy Service
  • Health professionals
  • Contact us

Children don’t need anticoagulants after surgery – why?

March 7, 2017 by Paul 1 Comment

img_7459This week my son Isaac had surgery on his knee for a dislocated patella. Fortunately it all went well, but he will be in plaster for the next 5 weeks. Shouldn’t he have anticoagulant prophylaxis to prevent a blood clot? In Adults knee surgery is associated with a high risk of thrombosis and many international guidelines suggest giving prophylaxis for several weeks after knee surgery especially knee replacement. However the risk in children is much lower and prophylaxis is not recommended unless there is some other risk factor.

Cause of clots

In fact the cause of blood clots in children differ from those seen in adults. In adults we are aware that surgery, obesity, immobility and cancer are all risk factors, but in children one of the major causes of a blood clot is the use of central venous catheters; these are lines into a vein used for various types of treatment. cvpAlso children with nephrotic syndrome (a kidney condition causing protein loss), and congenital heart disease have a higher risk of thrombosis, along with all the known inherited thrombophilias.

How common are clots in children?

The incidence in children is very low. It is highest during the first year of life at around 5 per 100,000 births then drops throughout childhood and starts to rise in adolescence.

It is not well understood why the incidence is lower in children. There are probably many factors relating to the chemistry of the blood, the state of the blood vessels and the activity of the individual.

My son had surgery on Wednesday, within 2 days he was walking around. If it was me I would be moaning about my leg for days but kids just seem to get up and get on with life.

Related Posts

  • Six Coagulation-linked Christmas giftsSix Coagulation-linked Christmas gifts
  • Two reasons why you should know your clot riskTwo reasons why you should know your clot risk
  • Long-term impact of venous thrombosisLong-term impact of venous thrombosis
Frivolous Friday - modern art and coagulation
Clots in pregnancy - How common?

Filed Under: Medical

Comments

  1. Daniel Jones says

    July 12, 2017 at 10:40 pm

    It’s good to hear that your son is recovering from the surgery. Hoping he will get well soon. Thanks for the post!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

New Zealand

Login for Pharmacy Patients

About Us

Paul & Angela

Paul, a specialist haematologist says, “I have a passion for improving anticoagulant management and I’m on anticoagulants myself. My wife, Angela, trained as a doctor, but has concentrated instead on raising our large family. We live in beautiful New Zealand and run INR Online, providing warfarin management software for health professionals.” More

Follow our posts

enter your email to follow our posts and get an email with each new post

  • 

Recent posts

  • Long-term impact of venous thrombosis
  • Weekend reflection: Ethics of medical trials
  • Clotting: the Swiss connection
  • Clot detectives
  • Clots in Pregnancy – Treatment

Archives

  • July 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016

Disclaimer

Coagulation Conversation does not provide medical advice, the site is for information only. See additional information

Copyright © 2018 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in