Paediatric anaesthesia
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Feb 2021
ReviewRegional Anesthesia in Neonates and Infants Outside the Immediate Perioperative Period: a Systematic Review of Studies with Efficacy and Safety Considerations.
This review examines the quality and quantity of literature regarding methods that measure efficacy in the context of reported safety of regional anesthesia techniques in preterm and term infants <1 year of age. Because the role of anesthesiologists continues to expand outside the operating room, we focused on all relevant settings with assessments that extend beyond 24 hours from the intraoperative period. All study designs were included from a search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Scopus, and Cochrane databases from 1946 to the end of 2019. ⋯ Evidence in this review establishes that neuraxial and peripheral anesthesia treatments may be applied to neonates and infants with a high degree of safety. However, large gaps in the consistency of methods used to assess pain in these studies underline the need for rigorous prospective efficacy studies of these techniques in this population. This systematic review was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42018114466).
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Feb 2021
Observational StudyIntraoperative Dextrose Rate during Exploratory Laparotomies in Neonates and the Incidence of Postoperative Hyperglycemia: A Retrospective Observational Study.
Compared with the older pediatric population, neonates have greater perioperative morbidity and mortality. Difficulty with glucose regulation may be a contributing modifiable risk factor during perioperative anesthetic management. To mitigate the risk of hyperglycemia in neonates, some providers empirically halve the preoperative rate of dextrose-containing infusions during surgery. ⋯ Halving of preoperative dextrose rates intraoperatively during exploratory laparotomy in neonatal intensive care unit patients was associated with a decreased risk of postoperative hyperglycemia without substantially increasing the occurrence of postoperative hypoglycemia. The practice of halving preoperative dextrose rates may be an effective empirical approach for intraoperative glucose management in the high-risk neonatal population when blood glucose monitoring is challenging.
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Feb 2021
Development and Initial Validation of Self-Report Measures of General Gealth, Pre-Operative Anxiety, and Post-Operative Pain in Young Children Using Computer-Administered Animation.
For young children, existing measures of children's health-related quality of life must be parent-reported or interviewer-administered for those who cannot read or complete measures independently. Parents' and childrens' reports about the child's health have been shown to disagree. ⋯ The CHRIS measures were reliable and valid in this diverse sample of young children (4-12). Because CHRIS measures are self-administered, scored in real time, and run on multiple different platforms, this approach provides a feasible method for the collection of health-related quality of life in young children and those with limited literacy. Our data indicate that this approach is psychometrically sound and has the potential for adding the child's voice to pediatric outcomes.
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Feb 2021
Audit of Blood Product Utilization in the Care of Injured Children.
Blood product utilization in injured children is poorly characterized; the decision to prepare products or transfuse patients can be difficult due to a lack of reliable evidence of transfusion needs across pediatric age-groups and injury types. We conducted an audit of transfusion practices in pediatric trauma based on age, injuries, and mechanism of injury. ⋯ The overall blood product needs in the pediatric trauma population are low (1.56%). Selected populations requiring higher rates of need include infants younger than one year, and children with thoracic and vascular injuries. Understanding transfusion patterns is important to optimize resource allocation.