A Near Real-Time Risk Analytics Algorithm Predicts Elevated Lactate Levels in Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care Patients.

BACKGROUND: Postoperative pediatric congenital heart patients are predisposed to develop low-cardiac output syndrome. Serum lactate (lactic acid [LA]) is a well-defined marker of inadequate systemic oxygen delivery. OBJECTIVES: We hypothesized that a near real-time risk index calculated by a noninvasive predictive analytics algorithm predicts elevated LA in pediatric patients admitted to a cardiac ICU (CICU). DERIVATION COHORT: Ten tertiary CICUs in the United States and Pakistan. VALIDATION COHORT: Retrospective observational study performed to validate a hyperlactatemia (HLA) index using T3 platform data (Etiometry, Boston, MA) from pediatric patients less than or equal to 12 years of age admitted to CICU (n = 3,496) from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2020. Patients lacking required data for module or LA measurements were excluded. PREDICTION MODEL: Physiologic algorithm used to calculate an HLA index that incorporates physiologic data from patients in a CICU. The algorithm uses Bayes' theorem to interpret newly acquired data in a near real-time manner given its own previous assessment of the physiologic state of the patient. RESULTS: A total of 58,168 LA measurements were obtained from 3,496 patients included in a validation dataset. HLA was defined as LA level greater than 4 mmol/L. Using receiver operating characteristic analysis and a complete dataset, the HLA index predicted HLA with high sensitivity and specificity (area under the curve 0.95). As the index value increased, the likelihood of having higher LA increased (p < 0.01). In the validation dataset, the relative risk of having LA greater than 4 mmol/L when the HLA index is less than 1 is 0.07 (95% CI: 0.06-0.08), and the relative risk of having LA less than 4 mmol/L when the HLA index greater than 99 is 0.13 (95% CI, 0.12-0.14). CONCLUSIONS: These results validate the capacity of the HLA index. This novel index can provide a noninvasive prediction of elevated LA. The HLA index showed strong positive association with elevated LA levels, potentially providing bedside clinicians with an early, noninvasive warning of impaired cardiac output and oxygen delivery. Prospective studies are required to analyze the effect of this index on clinical decision-making and outcomes in pediatric population.

Timely Use of Venous-Arterial ECMO to Treat Congenital Pediatric Junctional Ectopic Tachycardia: A Case Report.

Supraventricular tachycardia is the most common tachyarrhythmia in pediatrics. Although postoperative junctional ectopic tachycardia (JET) is a known complication of congenital heart surgery that is typically transient, congenital JET is rare and requires aggressive treatment to maintain hemodynamic stability. We describe the case of a 3-month-old, previously healthy female who presented with heart failure and cardiogenic shock secondary to congenital JET for whom extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) provided time for selection of effective therapy. Adenosine, cardioversion, and transesophageal pacing were unsuccessful, and her echocardiogram demonstrated bilateral atrial dilation and severe left ventricular systolic dysfunction. Approximately 8 hours after presentation, venous-arterial ECMO was commenced allowing for successful treatment with amiodarone. Her electrocardiogram demonstrated atrioventricular dissociation consistent with JET. She was successfully decannulated from ECMO after 6 days. Her discharge echocardiogram showed normal ventricular function, and she had no significant ECMO sequelae. This case demonstrates the value of early ECMO initiation for cardiovascular support in pediatric patients with a life-threatening arrhythmia and in cardiogenic shock. ECMO support can allow for full diagnostic and therapeutic decisions to effectively reverse the consequences of uncontrolled arrhythmias unrelated to surgical complications.

Pediatric interfacility transport effects on mortality and length of stay.

BACKGROUND: We aimed to evaluate the effects of interfacility pediatric critical care transport response time, physician presence during transport, and mode of transport on mortality and length of stay (LOS) among pediatric patients. We hypothesized that a shorter response time and helicopter transports, but not physician presence, are associated with lower mortality and a shorter LOS. METHODS: Retrospective, single-center, cohort study of 841 patients (< 19 years) transported to a quaternary pediatric intensive care unit and cardiovascular intensive care unit between 2014 and 2018 utilizing patient charts and transport records. Multivariate linear and logistic regression analyses adjusted for age, diagnosis, mode of transport, response time, stabilization time, return duration, mortality risk (pediatric index of mortality-2 and pediatric risk of mortality-3), and inotrope, vasopressor, or mechanical ventilation presence on admission. RESULTS: Four hundred and twenty-eight (50.9%) patients were transported by helicopter, and 413 (49.1%) were transported by ambulance. Physicians accompanied 239 (28.4%) transports. The median response time was 2.0 (interquartile range 1.4-2.9) hours. Although physician presence increased the median response time by 0.26 hours (P = 0.020), neither physician presence nor response time significantly affected mortality, ICU length of stay (ILOS) or hospital length of stay (HLOS). Helicopter transports were not significantly associated with mortality or ILOS, but were associated with a longer HLOS (3.24 days, 95% confidence interval 0.59-5.90) than ambulance transports (P = 0.017). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest response time and physician presence do not significantly affect mortality or LOS. This may reflect the quality of pre-transport care and medical control communication. Helicopter transports were only associated with a longer HLOS. Our analysis provides a framework for examining transport workforce needs and associated costs.

Acupuncture for Pain.

Acupuncture has been increasingly used as an integrative or complementary therapy for pain. It is well-tolerated with little risk of serious adverse effects. Traditional acupuncture and nontraditional techniques, such as electroacupuncture and dry needling, often result in reported pain improvement. Multiple factors may contribute to variability in acupuncture's therapeutic effects, including needling technique, number of needles used, duration of needle retention, acupuncture point specificity, number of treatments, and numerous subjective (psychological) factors. Controlled trials have been published on pain syndromes, such as acupuncture for acute and chronic low back pain, knee osteoarthritis, headache, myofascial pain, neck pain, and fibromyalgia. For some conditions, enough data are available for systematic evaluations or meta-analyses. Acupuncture may provide modest benefits in the treatment of chronic low back pain, tension headache and chronic headache, migraine headache prophylaxis, and myofascial pain. Although patients receiving acupuncture for acute low back pain and knee osteoarthritis report less pain, the improvement with true (verum) acupuncture over sham acupuncture is not clinically significant for these conditions. These two conditions illustrate a recurring pattern in acupuncture trials, in which the additional improvement that can be attributed to verum over sham acupuncture, even when statistically significant, is of less clinical significance. This pattern supports the notion that acupuncture treatment has a notable placebo response, or meaning response, that may be responsible for much of its demonstrated benefits. For certain patients, especially those who are unresponsive or intolerant to standard therapies, acupuncture is a reasonable treatment option.

Epidemiology of Disease and Mortality From a PICU in Mozambique.

OBJECTIVES: Delivery of pediatric critical care in low-income countries is limited by a lack of infrastructure, resources, and providers. Few studies have analyzed the epidemiology of disease associated with a PICU in a low-income country. The aim of this study was to document the primary diagnoses and the associated mortality rates of patients presenting to a tertiary PICU in Mozambique in order to formulate quality improvement projects through an international academic partnership. We hypothesized that the PICU mortality rate would be high and that sepsis would be a common cause of death. DESIGN: Retrospective, observational study. SETTING: Tertiary academic PICU. PATIENTS: All admitted PICU patients. INTERVENTIONS: All available data collection forms containing demographic and clinical data of patients admitted to the PICU at Hospital Central de Maputo, Mozambique from January 2013 to December 2013 were analyzed retrospectively. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The patient median age was 2 years (57% male). The most common primary diagnoses were malaria (22%), sepsis (18%), respiratory tract infections (12%), and trauma (6%). The mortality rate was 25%. Mortality rates were highest among patients with sepsis (59%), encephalopathy (56%), noninfectious CNS pathologies (33%), neoplastic diseases (33%), meningitis/encephalitis (29%), burns (26%), and cardiovascular pathologies (26%). The median length of PICU stay was 2 days. HIV exposure/infection had a nonstatistically significant association with mortality. Patients admitted for burns had the highest median length of PICU stay (4 d). Most trauma admissions were male (75%), and approximately half of all trauma admissions had an associated head injury (55%). CONCLUSIONS: Infectious disease and trauma were highly represented in this Mozambican PICU, and overall mortality was high compared with high-income countries. With this knowledge, targeted collaborative projects in Mozambique can now be created and modified. Further research is needed to monitor the potential benefits of such interventions.

The use of renal replacement therapy in critically ill pediatric small bowel transplantation candidates and recipients: Experience from one center.

Outcomes for pediatric SBT patients requiring perioperative RRT in the PICU remain unknown. The objectives were to document our center's experience with PICU SBT patients receiving perioperative RRT and to identify variables predictive of survival to discharge. A retrospective chart review of patients (ages, 0-18 yr) between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2011 that received RRT within a SBT perioperative period and were transplanted at our university-affiliated, tertiary care children's hospital was performed. Six SBT patients received perioperative RRT (ages, 5-12 yr). Three patients (50%) survived to hospital discharge. Among survivors, RRT was required for a total of 1-112 days (mean, 49.7 days). All three survivors survived to hospital discharge without renal transplantation and free of RRT. There was a trend toward increased survival among older patients receiving RRT (p = 0.05). Survivors had a higher I-125 GFR prior to PICU admission (p = 0.045). A higher I-125 GFR prior to PICU admission among survivors may support this test's utility during SBT evaluation. In our experience, a high survival rate and freedom from RRT at the time of discharge support RRT use in the SBT population.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support after pediatric orthotopic heart transplantation.

Mechanical circulatory support has been used for more than 30 yr to allow the heart to recover from ischemia and injury. There are limited pediatric data, however, on the efficacy of ECMO in the setting of post-transplantation support for primary graft dysfunction or rejection. Data from all patients at our university-affiliated, tertiary care children's hospital who underwent OHT between 1998 and 2010 and required subsequent ECMO support were analyzed. The primary outcome measure was survival to hospital discharge. Two hundred and three pediatric patients underwent OHT between 1998 and 2010 at our institution. Twenty-nine of these patients experienced post-transplantation cardiac failure requiring ECMO support, 18 of whom survived to hospital discharge (62%). Survival in the rejection and allograft vasculopathy group was 75%, and survival in patients with primary graft failure was 53% after ECMO support (p = 0.273). Patient survival to hospital discharge was not associated with ischemic time or duration of ECMO. ECMO provides hemodynamic support in the setting of cardiac failure and can be used successfully after pediatric OHT for primary graft dysfunction or rejection.

Correlation of a novel noninvasive tissue oxygen saturation monitor to serum central venous oxygen saturation in pediatric patients with postoperative congenital cyanotic heart disease.

Using a novel noninvasive, visible-light optical diffusion oximeter (T-Stat VLS Tissue Oximeter; Spectros Corporation, Portola Valley, CA) to measure the tissue oxygen saturation (StO2) of the buccal mucosa, the correlation between StOz and central venous oxygen saturation (ScvO2) was examined in children with congenital cyanotic heart disease undergoing a cardiac surgical procedure. Paired StO2 and serum ScvO2 measurements were obtained postoperatively and statistically analyzed for agreement and association. Thirteen children (nine male) participated in the study (age range, 4 days to 18 months). Surgeries included Glenn shunt procedures, Norwood procedures, unifocalization procedures with Blalock-Taussig shunt placement, a Kawashima/ Glenn shunt procedure, a Blalock-Taussig shunt placement, and a modified Norwood procedure. A total of 45 paired StO2-ScvO2 measurements was obtained. Linear regression demonstrated a Pearson's correlation of .58 (95% confidence interval [CI], .35-.75; p < .0001). The regression slope coefficient estimate was .95 (95% CI, .54-1.36) with an interclass correlation coefficient of .48 (95% CI, .22-.68). Below a clinically relevant average ScvO2 value, a receiver operator characteristic analysis yielded an area under the curve of .78. Statistical methods to control for repeatedly measuring the same subjects produced similar results. This study shows a moderate relationship and agreement between StO2 and ScvO2 measurements in pediatric patients with a history of congenital cyanotic heart disease undergoing a cardiac surgical procedure. This real-time monitoring device can act as a valuable adjunct to standard noninvasive monitoring in which serum SyvO2 sampling currently assists in the diagnosis of low cardiac output after pediatric cardiac surgery.

How we provide transfusion support for neonatal and pediatric patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) provides lifesaving hemodynamic and respiratory support to neonatal and pediatric patients with a variety of congenital or acquired cardiopulmonary defects. Successful ECMO support requires close collaboration among multiple services, including critical care medicine, perfusion, and transfusion medicine services. Neonatal and pediatric ECMO patients require significant transfusion support, both at the time of cannulation and after the ECMO circuit has been established, often with little advance notice. Thus a number of communication and logistic issues must be addressed through a multidisciplinary approach to ensure both good patient outcome and judicious use of resources. In this article, we describe our protocol for transfusion support for ECMO and potential ECMO patients, which was developed to address a number of issues, including identifying and stratifiying ECMO candidate patients, streamlining the ordering and communication processes, and improving blood product turnaround times and availability. Additional measures of quality improvement are also discussed. As the number of centers performing ECMO procedures remains high, we believe that our experience may be of interest to our colleagues in transfusion medicine and critical care.

Medical transport of children with complex chronic conditions.

One of the most notable trends in child health has been the increase in the number of children with special health care needs, including those with complex chronic conditions. Care of these children accounts for a growing fraction of health care resources. We examine recent developments in health care, especially with regard to medical transport and prehospital care, that have emerged to adapt to this remarkable demographic trend. One such development is the focus on care coordination, including the dissemination of the patient-centered medical home concept. In the prehospital setting, the need for greater coordination has catalyzed the development of the emergency information form. Training programs for prehospital providers now incorporate specific modules for children with complex conditions. Another notable trend is the shift to a family-centered model of care. We explore efforts toward regionalization of care, including the development of specialized pediatric transport teams, and conclude with recommendations for a research agenda.

Diet and exercise in the management of hyperlipidemia.

Dietary factors that influence lipid levels include modification of nutritional components, consumption of specific foods, use of food additives and supplements, and major dietary approaches. The most beneficial changes result from reducing intake of saturated and trans fats; increasing intake of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats; fortifying foods with plant stanols or sterols; isocalorically adding tree nuts to the diet; consuming one or two alcoholic drinks per day; and adopting a Portfolio, Mediterranean, low-carbohydrate, or low-fat diet. Smaller but still beneficial effects result from reducing intake of dietary cholesterol, increasing intake of soluble fiber and soy protein, and eating fatty marine fish or taking marine-derived omega-3 fatty acid supplements. Red yeast rice supplements have effects similar to those of statin medications and are better tolerated in some patients. Regular aerobic exercise has beneficial effects on lipid levels, particularly if performed for at least 120 minutes per week. Brief physician counseling will have relatively small effects on unselected patients, so efforts should be concentrated on patients who are motivated and ready to make lifestyle changes.

Outcome predictors of pediatric extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) allows clinicians to potentially rescue pediatric patients unresponsive to traditional cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Clinical and laboratory variables predictive of survival to hospital discharge are beginning to emerge. In this retrospective, historical cohort case series, clinical, and laboratory data from 31 pediatric patients (<21 years of age) receiving ECPR from March 2000 to April 2006 at our university-affiliated, tertiary-care children's hospital were statistically analyzed in an attempt to identify variables predictive of survival to hospital discharge. Seven patients survived to hospital discharge (23%), and 24 patients died. Survival was independent of gender, age, and CPR duration. ECPR survival was, however, associated with a lower pre-ECPR phosphorus concentration (P = 0.002) and a lower pre-ECPR creatinine concentration (P = 0.05). A classification tree analysis, using, in part, a pre-ECPR phosphorus concentration threshold and a CPR ABG base excess concentration threshold, yielded a 96% nominal accuracy of predicting survival to hospital discharge or death. A large, multicenter, prospective cohort study aimed at validating these predictive variables is needed to guide appropriate ECPR patient selection. This study reveals the potential survival benefit of ECPR for pediatric patients, regardless of CPR duration prior to ECPR cannulation.

Acupuncture for pain.

Acupuncture is increasingly used as an alternative or complementary therapy for the treatment of pain. It is well tolerated, with a low risk of serious adverse effects. Traditional and modern acupuncture techniques may result in reported improvement in pain patterns. Research on acupuncture has had a number of limitations, including: incomplete understanding of the physiologic effects of acupuncture; ineffective blinding of participants; unclear adequacy of acupuncture "dose;" difficulty in identification of suitable sham or placebo treatments; and the use of standardized treatment regimens rather than the individualized approach that characterizes most acupuncture practice. Controlled trials have been published regarding acupuncture for lumbar, shoulder, and neck pain; headache; arthritis; fibromyalgia; temporomandibular joint pain; and other pain syndromes. Enough data are available for some conditions to allow systematic evaluations or meta-analyses. Based on published evidence, acupuncture is most likely to benefit patients with low back pain, neck pain, chronic idiopathic or tension headache, migraine, and knee osteoarthritis. Promising but less definitive data exist for shoulder pain, fibromyalgia, temporomandibular joint pain, and postoperative pain. Acupuncture has not been proven to improve pain from rheumatoid arthritis. For other pain conditions, there is not enough evidence to draw conclusions.

Duration of cardiopulmonary resuscitation before extracorporeal rescue: how long is not long enough?

Despite the extensive resources required, extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) has been recognized as an extension of traditional CPR. The reported duration of CPR before ECPR initiation is similar between survivors and nonsurvivors, but the duration of CPR that results in futility of care is unknown. We report two cases of prolonged CPR followed by ECPR resulting in acceptable neurologic outcomes. Ventricular tachycardia developed in a 4-year-old with myocarditis, resulting in a cardiac arrest requiring CPR for 176 minutes before initiation of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). The patient required ECMO for 9 days. He survived neurologically normal. A ventricular arrhythmia developed in a newborn after an arterial switch procedure, leading to cardiac arrest requiring CPR for 97 minutes before ECMO, which lasted for 11 days. Hydrocephalus developed, but the patient is progressing developmentally. The upper limit of CPR duration before ECPR resulting in acceptable neurological outcomes is unknown. Many clinical and biochemical factors are potential predictors of appropriate ECPR utility. The Extracorporeal Life Support Organization registry is a plausible forum to collect data regarding ECPR. We suggest that possible predictive variables be collected. Until then, practitioners must rely on experience and judgment regarding the value of ECPR in children.