Title
Pulmonary Embolism Presenting with Sudden Respiratory Failure in Two Previously Stable Neonates
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2010
Abstract
Pulmonary artery embolism (PE) is a rare and life-threatening complication in the neonate. We describe two previously stable infants who incurred respiratory failure from PE. The first case is a late preterm infant with gastroschisis with autopsy confirmation of PE presumably as a result of a central venous line (CVL) with thromboembolism. The second case is an extreme low birth weight infant with sudden onset of respiratory failure, abnormal chest x-ray, disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), and echocardiographic confirmation of a thrombus at the junction of the superior vena cava and right atrium (SVC/RA) at the site of a previous CVL. This infant was successfully managed with thrombolytic therapy and anticoagulation. We suggest that PE be considered in an infant with a history of a CVL who presents with otherwise unexplained respiratory failure.
Recommended Citation
Werthammer J, Pritt A, Reechi, L, Brown L, Heydarian M. Pulmonary embolism presenting with sudden respiratory failure in two previously stable neonates. J Neonatal-Perinatal Med. 2010;3:57–61.
Comments
This is the author accepted manuscript published in the Journal of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, Vol. 3, by Joseph Werthammer, Audra Pritt, Laura Reechi, Linda Brown, and Mahmood Heydarian. "Pulmonary embolism presenting with sudden respiratory failure in two previously stable neonates." pp. 57-61. Copyright (2010), with permission from IOS Press www.iospress.nl. The final version of record is available at http://www.iospress.nl/journal/journal-of-neonatal-perinatal-medicine/. DOI 10.3233/NPM-2010-0093