Pediatric emergency care
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Pediatric emergency care · Dec 2005
Procalcitonin as a diagnostic aid in osteomyelitis and septic arthritis.
Plasma procalcitonin (PCT) increases rapidly during bacterial infections but remains low in viral infections and other inflammatory processes. High plasma PCT typically occurs in children with bacterial meningitis, severe bacterial infections, particularly in cases of septic shock or bacteremia, and in renal parenchymal damage. The aim of this study was to test the usefulness of plasma PCT analysis in the diagnosis of osteomyelitis, septic arthritis, and other skeletal inflammatory diseases in pediatric patients admitted because of fever and limping. ⋯ In this study, PCT was found to be a useful marker in the diagnosis of osteomyelitis and not in septic arthritis. A larger group of patients needed to be studied to confirm our findings.
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Pediatric emergency care · Dec 2005
Case ReportsEsophageal duplication cyst: an unusual cause of respiratory distress in infants.
Esophageal duplication cysts are rare congenital anomalies. These should be recognized as a cause of respiratory distress in infants and are usually associated with feeding difficulties. We report 2 such cases of esophageal duplication cyst in infants, causing acute respiratory distress. Excision was curative.
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Pediatric emergency care · Dec 2005
Unscheduled revisits to a pediatric emergency department: risk factors for children with fever or infection-related complaints.
Unscheduled revisits (URVs) may serve as markers of quality of care and may be costly both in financial terms as well as in limitations they place on primary care. We performed this study to examine the association between characteristics easily obtainable during an emergency department (ED) visit and URV to identify a subpopulation of children who may warrant interventions to decrease URV. ⋯ These factors may be used to identify children in the ED at greater risk for URV and may point to a need for improved discharge instructions and enhanced communication with primary care and systems to arrange follow-up. Results of this work may also identify at-risk populations for future qualitative research or intervention studies on URV to EDs.