The Prevalence of Bleeding Disorders Among Healthy Pediatric Patients With Abnormal Preprocedural Coagulation Studies

Abstract

The most common diagnosis among the patients referred to us for abnormal preoperative coagulation tests was a NSI, which is not associated with an increased risk of operative bleeding complications. Less than 20% had a possible or true mild bleeding disorder. Although certain bleeding disorders can be occult in children and are associated with perioperative bleeding risks, our study demonstrates the inherent limitations in making a laboratory diagnosis of a bleeding disorder in pediatric patients preoperatively. Our findings contribute to existing doubt about the usefulness of prothrombin times, partial thromboplastin times, and closure times to identify occult bleeding disorders in this population.