ABSTRACT
AIM: Aerodigestive clinics (ADCs) are multidisciplinary programmes for the care of children with complex congenital or acquired conditions affecting breathing, swallowing and growth. Our objective was to describe the demographic, clinical, etiological and investigational profile of children attending the inaugural ADC at a tertiary paediatric centre in Queensland. METHODS: Children referred to the ADC at Queensland Children's Hospital from August 2018 to December 2019 were included. Data on clinical, growth and lung function parameters, bronchoscopy and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy findings, thoracic imaging and comorbidities were retrospectively analysed. RESULTS: Fifty-six children (median (range) age 4 years (3 months-15 years); 18 female) attended the ADC during this 17-month period. Forty-six (82%) children had previous oesophageal atresia with tracheo-oesophageal fistula; 43 of these were type C. Previous isolated oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia and congenital pulmonary malformation were the underlying disorder in three (5%) children each, with one child having a repaired laryngeal cleft. Vertebral Anal Tracheo Esophageal Renal Limb anomalies (VACTERL)/Vertebral Anal Tracheo Esophageal renal anomalies (VATER) association was seen in 21 (38%) children. Growth was adequate (median weight and body mass index z-score -0.63 and -0.48, respectively). Thirty-four (61%) children reported ongoing wet cough, with 12 (21%) requiring previous hospital admission for lower respiratory tract infection. Fourteen (25%) had bronchiectasis on computed tomography chest and 33 (59%) had clinical tracheomalacia, apparent on bronchoscopic examination in 21 patients. Dysphagia was reported in 15 (27%) children, 11 (20%) were gastrostomy feed-dependent and 5 (9%) had biopsy-proven eosinophilic oesophagitis. CONCLUSION: High proportion of children attending the ADC have ongoing respiratory symptoms resulting in chronic pulmonary suppuration and bronchiectasis. Potential benefits of this model of care need to be studied prospectively to better understand the outcomes.
Subject(s)
Esophageal Atresia , Tracheoesophageal Fistula , Child , Child, Preschool , Esophageal Atresia/surgery , Female , Humans , Queensland/epidemiology , Retrospective Studies , Trachea , Tracheoesophageal Fistula/epidemiology , Tracheoesophageal Fistula/surgeryABSTRACT
We describe a giant gastric phytobezoar in a child with repaired congenital esophageal atresia. At age two, a gastric interposition (pull-up) procedure was performed for severe and recurrent esophageal strictures. For 12 months post-gastric interposition, he experienced frequent respiratory illnesses requiring hospital admissions but it was not initially appreciated that these episodes were likely secondary to recurrent aspiration from a gastric bezoar with "spill-over" aspiration.
ABSTRACT
Tracheomalacia, a disorder of the large airways where the trachea is deformed or malformed during respiration, is commonly seen in tertiary paediatric practice. It is associated with a wide spectrum of respiratory symptoms from life-threatening recurrent apnoea to common respiratory symptoms such as chronic cough and wheeze. Current practice following diagnosis of tracheomalacia includes medical approaches aimed at reducing associated symptoms of tracheomalacia, ventilation modalities of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and bi-level positive airway pressure (BiPAP), and surgical approaches aimed at improving the calibre of the airway (airway stenting, aortopexy, tracheopexy). To evaluate the efficacy of medical and surgical therapies for children with intrinsic (primary) tracheomalacia. The Cochrane Airways Group searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), the Cochrane Airways Group's Specialized Register, Medline and Embase databases. The Cochrane Airways Group performed the latest searches in March 2012. All randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of therapies related to symptoms associated with primary or intrinsic tracheomalacia. Two reviewers extracted data from the included study independently and resolved disagreements by consensus. We included one RCT that compared nebulized recombinant human deoxyribonuclease (rhDNase) with placebo in 40 children with airway malacia and a respiratory tract infection. We assessed it to be a RCT with ...
ABSTRACT
We examined 10,025 respiratory samples collected for 4 years (2001-2004) and found a 7.1% average annual incidence of human metapneumovirus. The epidemic peak of infection was late winter to spring, and genotyping showed a change in predominant viral genotype in 3 of the 4 years.
