Key result
A 12-year-old boy presenting with abdominal pain 2 weeks after a lower limb fracture was found to have a pulmonary thromboembolism, highlighting abdominal pain as a potential symptom of PTE in children.
Why the study?
The risk of venous thromboembolism and its presenting signs and symptoms are less well documented in the paediatric population compared to adults.
Case Report (n=1)
No
Pulmonary thromboembolism should be considered as a differential diagnosis for abdominal pain in pediatric patients with predisposing risk factors such as recent trauma and immobility.
Pulmonary thromboembolism may present atypically as abdominal pain in children post-trauma; this case leaves open need for prospective validation before changing practice.
Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a recognised complication of lower limb trauma in adult patients and classically presents with cardiopulmonary symptoms. However, the risk of VTE and its presenting signs and symptoms are less well documented in the paediatric population. We report the case of a child who presented to our emergency department with abdominal pain 2 weeks after lower limb fracture, who was subsequently found to have a pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE). This case report highlights the importance of having a high index of suspicion for VTE in the paediatric population if there are predisposing risk factors and to consider PTE as a differential cause of abdominal pain. To the authors' knowledge, no case has been described in which a child presenting with abdominal pain was consequently found to have a pulmonary embolism.
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Ibrahim et al. (2021) conducted a case report in Pulmonary thromboembolism (n=1). Lower limb fracture and immobilization was evaluated on Diagnosis of pulmonary thromboembolism. A 12-year-old boy presenting with abdominal pain 2 weeks after a lower limb fracture was found to have a pulmonary thromboembolism, highlighting abdominal pain as a potential symptom of PTE in children.
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