Conservative Treatment of Spontaneous Neonatal Aortic Thrombosis: A Case Study Expanding the Evidence Base

Introduction

Neonatal aortic thrombosis (NAT) is very rare and occurs with an incidence of 1 per 100 000 cases (Nagel K et al., Klin. Padiatr. 2010, 222: 134–139.). Clinical presentation ranges from asymptomatic patients to loss of limbs and organ dysfunction. Neonatal thrombosis is associated with several risk factors including prematurity, genetics (hereditary deficiency of protein C or protein S, antithrombin III), hypoxia, dehydration and sepsis (Makatsariya A et al., J. Matern. Fetal Neonatal Med. 2022, 35: 1169–1177). Depending on the duration of placement, umbilical catheters are considered the most common cause of NATs, accounting for up to 80% of cases (Boo N et al., J. Paediatr. Child Health 1999, 35: 460–465). The gold standard of diagnosis is abdominal ultrasound or contrast angiography. Variable treatment modalities exist including thrombolysis, anticoagulation and thrombectomy depending on the level of severity. Mortality is reported to be high and ranges from nearly 15% up to 39% (Mulcaire-Jones JP, et al., Cardiol Young 2020, 30 (1): 95–99).

Publication History

Article published online:
11 November 2025