In a 13-year single-center retrospective cohort of 60 pediatric patients undergoing peripheral vascular surgical interventions, favorable 30-day outcomes were observed with no mortality, major amputation, vascular reintervention, or clinically evident ischemic complication.
Trauma was the most common overall etiology for pediatric peripheral vascular surgical intervention, accounting for 60% of cases.
Marked age-related differences in etiology were observed, with iatrogenic lesions predominating in infants and trauma predominating in adolescents.
The upper extremity was the most frequently involved anatomic region, followed by the lower extremity and cervical vessels.
Primary repair or end-to-end anastomosis was the most frequently performed operative procedure.
There was no 30-day mortality, major amputation, vascular reintervention, or clinically evident ischemic complication in the entire cohort.
Adolescents represented the largest age group in this pediatric vascular surgical cohort.
The authors identify the need for multicenter studies with standardized long-term follow-up to evaluate late vascular patency, growth-related changes, and functional outcomes.
This research examined 13 years of surgical cases at a specialized children's heart and vascular center in Turkey, focusing on children under 18 who needed surgery on peripheral blood vessels (those outside the heart and major chest vessels). Over that period, 60 children were treated, and the study found that the causes of injury differed strongly by age: very young children (infants up to age 2) were most commonly injured by medical procedures such as catheter placements, while teenagers were most often injured by accidents or trauma. The upper arm and forearm were the most commonly affected areas, and most injuries involved arteries rather than veins. The surgical team used a variety of repair techniques, most commonly directly stitching the vessel back together or reconnecting cut ends, followed by procedures to remove blood clots and, less frequently, using a piece of vein from the patient's own leg to bridge a gap in a damaged vessel. Importantly, none of the 60 patients died, lost a limb, needed a second vascular operation, or showed signs of tissue damage from poor blood flow within 30 days of surgery — a strong short-term outcome for a complex patient population. This research suggests that children can undergo peripheral vascular surgery with very good short-term results when treated at specialized centers, and that awareness of the different causes of vascular injury in different age groups can help doctors respond quickly and appropriately. However, the study only tracked patients for 30 days, so questions remain about how these repairs hold up as children grow and whether blood vessels remain open over many years. Larger studies across multiple hospitals with longer follow-up are needed to fully understand the long-term effects of these repairs in growing children.
Öztürker K, Tomrukçu F, Yılmaz A, Özbek B, Tunçer E. (2026). Pediatric peripheral vascular surgical interventions: a 13-year single-center experience.. Pediatric surgery international. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00383-026-06637-7