Venous thromboembolism in adolescents.

Abstract

The incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) during childhood is low with two peaks - neonatal and adolescent age. This retrospective study is focused on clinical characteristics ofVTE during adolescence. The main goals are to assess the most frequent inherited and acquired risk factors and to evaluate the benefit of D-dimers in diagnostics of venous thromboemblism. The data of 18 adolescents were analysed--16 girls (88.9%), 2 boys (11.1%). In 9 patients (50%) thrombosis of the lower limb deep veins was diagnosed, six patients (33.3%) suffered from symptomatic pulmonary embolism (PE) and 3 patients (16.7%) from thrombosis at unusual sites. One patient had an idiopathic VTE, the mean number of the inherited and acquired risk factors was 2.6. The most frequent inherited risk factor was Leiden mutation of factor V (27.8%). The most frequent acquired risk factor was oral contraception (OC) in 12 out of 16 girls (75%). All of our patients on oral contraception had one or more additional risk factors. 10 out of 18 (55.6%) patients with VTE had elevated activity of factor VIII. The sensitivity of D-dimers was low (50%) in patients with distal lower limb thrombosis, but very high (100%) in patients with PE.