Clinical application of cardiac output monitoring in children with severe hand-foot-mouth disease / 中国当代儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>Significant cardiac dysfunction has been found in children with severe hand-foot-mouth disease and heart failure is the major cause of death in these patients. Evaluation of cardiac function is essential for the treatment of severe cases. This study evaluated the clinical value of cardiac output monitoring in children with severe hand-foot-mouth disease.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 107 children with severe hand-foot-mouth disease admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit from April 2011 to September 2011 were enrolled and divided into three groups by clinical stage: 73 cases in stage 2, 23 cases in stage 3 and 11 cases in stage 4. Cardiac output and stroke volume were measured by ultrasonic cardiac output monitors (USCOM). Ninety-five children received MRI scanning and were grouped according to the results of MRI: 41 cases (medulla oblongata involvements in 9 cases) in abnormal MRI group and 54 cases in normal MRI group. Cardiac output was compared between the children in different clinical stages and between different MRI results.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with children in clinical stages 2 and 3, cardiac output in children in clinical stage 4 decreased significantly (P<0.05). There was no differences in cardiac output between the normal and abnormal MRI groups, however cardiac output was significantly lower in children with medulla oblongata involvement than in those with other involvements and normal MRI.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Significant decrease in cardiac output suggests critical conditions and medulla oblongata cardiovascular center involvement in children with severe hand-foot-mouth disease. Dynamic measurement of cardiac output is valuable for treatment of the disease.</p>

Valproic acid versus lamotrigine as a monotherapy for absence epilepsy in children / 中国当代儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To compare the efficacy of valproic acid (VPA) and lamotrigine as a monotherapy for absence epilepsy in children.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A randomized, open-label design was used. Childhood absence epilepsy was diagnosed based on the presence of typical seizures and video-EEG findings. Eligible patients were randomly treated with VPA or lamotrigine. All patients were followed up for 12 months.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Forty-five out of 48 eligible children completed the study. There were 23 children in the VPA group and 22 children in the lamotrigine group. Seventeen children were seizure-free in the VPA group 12 months after treatment. Fifteen out of the 17 children showed normal EEG (no epileptic-formed discharge). Twelve children were seizure-free in the lamotrigine group 12 months after treatment. The proportion showing normal EEG in the lamotrigine group (6/22, 27.3%) was significantly lower than that in the VPA group (15/23, 65.2%) (P<0.05). Severe adverse effects were not found in both groups.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Both VPA and lamotrigine are safe and efficacious for treatment of absence seizures in children. VPA appears to be better than lamotrigine in tapering epileptic-formed discharge.</p>

Relationship of Serum Albumin and Circulation Function and Prognosis of Septic Children / 实用儿科临床杂志

Objective To investigate the relationship of serum albumin and circulation function and the prognosis of septic children.Met-hods A retrospective study was carried out on 92 septic children.These children were divided into 2 groups by the level of serum albumin:hypoalbuminemia group(albumin

Case Control-Study on Efficacy of Carbamazepine and Oxcarbazepine in Treating Frontal Lobe Epilepsy as Monotherapy in Children / 实用儿科临床杂志

0.05).Conclusions Both CBZ and OXC are effecive in treating typical frontal lobe seizures.