ABSTRACT
Background: Indications for therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) are expanding. We aimed to study the demographics, clinical indications, and outcomes of patients who have undergone TPE in our PICU. Materials and methods: This is a retrospective study performed among children aged from 1 month to 16 years of age. Demographics, indications, therapeutic response, serious adverse events (SAE), PICU length of stay (LOS), and death during hospitalization were studied as outcome variables. Results: Therapeutic plasma exchange was performed in 115 sessions on 24 patients for 12 different indications falling under various American Society for Apheresis (ASFA) categories. Therapeutic plasma exchange was performed on ten, four, and ten children for ASFA category I, II, and III indications, respectively. The most common indications were thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) (8/24) and acute liver failure (ALF) (6/24). During those 115 sessions, a total of five serious adverse events (SAEs) occurred, accounting for 4.3% of the cases. Minor adverse events occurred in 12 sessions (10.4%). Therapeutic response was good in 17 patients (71%) including 5 patients who underwent standard volume TPE (SV-TPE) for ALF. Median PICU LOS was 9 (range 2-120) days. The mortality rate was 12.5% (3/24). Conclusion: Therapeutic plasma exchange is effective in various clinical conditions involving various organ systems. It is an excellent therapeutic modality in children with ALF, irrespective of the exchange volume and TMA. However, SAEs do occur in the minority. How to cite this article: Balasubramanian KK, Venkatachalapathy P, Margabandhu S, Natraj R, Sridaran VK, Lakshmanan C, et al. Scope, Safety, and Feasibility of Therapeutic Plasma Exchange in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: A Single-center Experience. Indian J Crit Care Med 2023;27(10):766-770.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the cardiovascular aberrations using multimodal monitoring in fluid refractory pediatric septic shock and describe the clinical characteristics of septic myocardial dysfunction. DESIGN: Prospective observational study of patients with unresolved septic shock after infusion of 40 mL/kg fluid in the first hour. SETTING: Two tertiary care referral Indian PICUs. PATIENTS: Patients aged 1 month to 16 years who had fluid refractory septic shock. INTERVENTIONS: Changes in therapy were based on findings of clinical assessment, bedside echocardiography, and invasive blood pressure monitoring within 6 hours of recognition of septic shock. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Over a 4-year period, 48 patients remained in septic shock despite at least 40 mL/kg fluid infusion. On clinical examination, 21 patients had cold shock and 27 had warm shock. Forty-one patients (85.5%) had vasodilatory shock on invasive blood pressure; these included 14 patients who initially presented with cold shock. The commonest echocardiography findings were impaired left ± right ventricular function in 19 patients (39.6%) and hypovolemia in 16 patients (33%). Three patients who had normal myocardial function on day 1 developed secondary septic myocardial dysfunction on day 3. Echocardio graphy, along with invasive arterial pressure monitoring, allowed fluid, inotropy, and pressors to be titrated more precisely in 87.5% of patients. Shock resolved in 46 of 48 patients (96%) and 44 patients (91.6%) survived to discharge. CONCLUSION: Bedside echocardiography provided crucial information leading to the recognition of septic myocardial dysfunction and uncorrected hypovolemia that was not apparent on clinical assessment. With invasive blood pressure monitoring, echocardiography affords a simple noninvasive tool to determine the cause of low cardiac output and the physiological basis for adjustment of therapy in patients who remain in shock despite 40 mL/kg fluid.
