Creatinine correction to account for fluid overload in children with acute respiratory distress syndrome treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation: an initial exploratory report.

BACKGROUND: Creatinine is distributed between the intracellular and extracellular compartments, and as a result, the measurement of its concentration is strongly related to the fluid status of the patient. An interest has been shown in correcting measured serum creatinine levels according to the fluid balance in order to better specify the degree of acute kidney injury (AKI). METHODS: We conducted a retrospective observational study of 33 children, aged 0 to 5 years, admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit for acute respiratory distress syndrome treated by extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. We compared measured and corrected creatinine and assessed the degree of agreement between these values using both Cohen's kappa and Krippendorff's alpha coefficient. RESULTS: In our cohort, 37% of the classifications made according to measured creatinine levels were erroneous and, in the majority of cases, the degree of AKI was underestimated. CONCLUSION: Correction of the measured creatinine value according to the degree of fluid overload may result in more accurate diagnosis of AKI. Graphical abstract A higher resolution version of the Graphical abstract is available as Supplementary information.

Impact of CRRT in Patients with PARDS Treated with VV-ECMO.

The high mortality of pediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome (PARDS) is partly related to fluid overload. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is used to treat pediatric patients with severe PARDS, but can result in acute kidney injury (AKI) and worsening fluid overload. The objective of this study was to determine whether the addition of CRRT to ECMO in patients with PARDS is associated with increased mortality. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective 7-year study of patients with PARDS requiring ECMO and divided them into those requiring CRRT and those not requiring CRRT. We calculated severity of illness scores, the amount of blood products administered to both groups, and determined the impact of CRRT on mortality and morbidity. RESULTS: We found no significant difference in severity of illness scores except the vasoactive inotropic score (VIS, 45 ± 71 vs. 139 ± 251, p = 0.042), which was significantly elevated during the initiation and the first three days of ECMO. CRRT was associated with an increase in the use of blood products and noradrenaline (p < 0.01) without changing ECMO duration, length of PICU stay or mortality. CONCLUSION: The addition of CRRT to ECMO is associated with a greater consumption of blood products but no increase in mortality.

Extracorporeal CO2 Removal Integrated within a Continuous Renal Replacement Circuit Offers Multiple Advantages.

Extracorporeal CO2 removal within a continuous renal replacement therapy circuit offers multiple advantages for the regulation of the CO2 extraction. The authors review the impact of the dialysate solution, the buffer, and the anticoagulation on CO2 removal. They propose a theoretical model of the ideal circuit for the optimization of CO2 extraction.