HHS Public Access Author manuscript Author Manuscript

J Pediatr Orthop. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2017 January 01. Published in final edited form as: J Pediatr Orthop. 2016 January ; 36(1): 101–109. doi:10.1097/BPO.0000000000000391.

Incidence of Deep Vein Thrombosis and Pulmonary Embolism in the Elective Pediatric Orthopaedic Patient Gaia Georgopoulos, MD*, Mark S. Hotchkiss, BA‡, Bryan McNair, MS§, Georgette Siparsky, PhD†, Patrick Carry, BA‡, and Nancy H. Miller, MD*,‡ *Department

of Orthopaedic Surgery, Children’s Hospital Colorado

Author Manuscript

‡Musculoskeletal §Colorado

Research Center, Children’s Hospital Colorado

Biostatistics Consortium, University of Colorado Denver

†Department

of Clinical Informatics, Children’s Hospital Colorado

Abstract

Author Manuscript

Background—Although venous thromboembolism has been well studied in the pediatric trauma population, rates of VTE associated with elective pediatric orthopaedic procedures have not been addressed in current literature. The purpose of this retrospective study was to identify the incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in the elective pediatric orthopaedic surgical population and delineate subsets of this population at greatest risk. This study may provide valuable data to begin the process of resolving the controversy surrounding DVT prophylaxis in the pediatric orthopaedic population. Methods—The Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) was queried for patients admitted on an ambulatory or inpatient basis aged