With Anne Geoffray

Pathophysiology

• Presence of an intraluminal clot within a pulmonary artery branch
  
• Pulmonary embolism is much rarer in children than in adults; the incidence is reported to be under 3% on autopsy series.
  
• Most often associated with indwelling intravenous catheter in children; less commonly with deep vein thrombosis.
  
• Predisposing factors to hypercoaguable state are nearly always present.
  
  
  
  • • Central venous catheters
    
  • • Recent vascular intervention
    
  • • Recent surgery
    
  • • Hyperalimentation, dehydration, septicemia, burns, asphyxia, trauma
    
  • • Heart disease: intracardiac shunts, dilated cardiomyopathy
    
  • • Renal diseases
    
  • • Neoplasm: solid tumors, leukemias, lymphomas
    
  • • Connective tissue diseases
    
  • • Sickle cell disease
    
  • • Disorders of coagulation: antithrombin III, protein C or protein S deficiency, antiphospholipid antibodies, coagulation-regulatory protein abnormalities
  
  
• Chronic pulmonary thromboembolism can lead to pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Clinical Manifestation