Ventricular-Atrial Junction in Post Hemorrhagic Hydrocephalus: A Rare Case of Massive Catheter Atrial Thrombosis

Although the infant age is notoriously the hardest period of life to be affected by thromboembolic accidents in the medical literature there are still very few studies on this issue, and therefore the treatment of these pathological processes is, on this stage of life, even today, a real challenge. In fact the role of medical therapy is still debated, either as regards the most appropriate medical procedure to use, or the effectiveness, and because of its limits which were often described and because of there are no protocols which could be really sure or recommended . We describe the case of a patient who came to our observation at the age of 11months for a severe thrombosis of the ventricle-atrial shunt catheter placed after a post-hemorrhagic hydrocephalus. In our division, the patient was subjected to medical therapy, first with only heparin, then associated with thrombolytics. This case emphasizes the difficulties in the therapeutic management of pediatric patients with thrombosis, it emphasizes the limits of any medical treatment and reiterates the need to guide patients with these phenomena promptly to surgery, which is the only effective and decisive therapy.