Neonatal Abdominal Aortic Thrombus

Abstract

Umbilical artery catheterization is considered the standard of care for arterial access in neonates. Studies have shown, however, that umbilical artery catheterization carries a high risk of aortic thrombosis, which can be fatal. Neonatal aortic thrombosis can be difficult to treat appropriately, in part because of the absence of reliable data for this patient population and nonstandardized reporting of the condition. Sonography of the abdominal aorta in neonates provides a noninvasive means of diagnosing the presence and extent of aortic thrombus, which assists in managing the patient’s plan of care. An important case also has been made for long-term follow-up studies using sonography as the diagnostic tool in patients who received umbilical artery catheters as infants.