THURSDAY, June 16 (HealthDay News) -- For children with indwelling arterial catheters (IACs), the incidence of arterial thrombosis is increased in the femoral artery and is independently associated with age, according to a study published in the June issue of the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis.
Barbara Brotschi, M.D., from the University Children's Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland, and colleagues investigated the incidence and risk factors of IAC-related thrombosis in 615 IACs placed in 473 children with a median age of 0.56 years. Detailed information was recorded over the course of 12 months in a tertiary-care pediatric hospital.
The investigators found that 418 (68 percent) of the IACs were placed in the radial artery, 137 (22 percent) in the femoral artery, 26 (4 percent) in the umbilical artery, 11 (2 percent) in the brachial artery, and 23 (3.7 percent) in another artery. The incidence of thrombosis occurred in 20 cases (3.25 percent), 18 of which were located in femoral arteries (incidence 13 percent). Increased risk of femoral artery thrombosis was significantly associated with newborn age, lower body weight, low cardiac output, and increased hematocrit. Younger age was significantly and independently correlated with an elevated risk of thrombosis (odds ratio, 6.51).
"The results of this study demonstrate that arterial thrombosis occurs with an increased incidence in children requiring IACs in the femoral location," the authors write. "Only newborn age is an independent predictor of thrombosis."
Abstract
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