Pediatric anesthesia practices during the COVID-19 pandemic: A retrospective cohort study.

Background and Aims: The onset of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic brought together the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA) and the European Society of Regional Anaesthesia and Pain Therapy (ESRA) to release a joint statement on anesthesia use. Their statement included a recommendation to use regional anesthesia whenever possible to mitigate the risk associated with aerosolizing procedures. We sought to examine the utilization of anesthesia in pediatric patients undergoing a surgical procedure for fractures or ligament repairs before and during COVID-19. Methods: Using the Premier Health Database, we retrospectively analyzed pediatric patients undergoing a surgical intervention for fractures or ligament repair before and during COVID-19. We sought to determine if there were differences in anesthesia use among this cohort during the two time periods. Fracture groups included shoulder and clavicle, humerus and elbow, forearm and wrist, hand and finger, pelvis and hip, femur and knee, leg and ankles, and foot and toes. Ligament procedures included surgical intervention for the anterior cruciate ligament and ulnar collateral ligament repair. Results: We identified a total of 5935 patients undergoing a surgical procedure for fractures or ligament repairs before and during COVID-19. After exclusion for unknown anesthesia use, 2,807 patients were included in our cohort with 81.5% (n = 2288) of patients undergoing a procedure under general anesthesia, 6.4% (n = 181) under regional anesthesia, and 12.0% (n = 338) under combined general-regional anesthesia. There did not appear to be a significant difference in the type of anesthesia used before and during COVID-19 (p = 0.052). Conclusions: Our study did not identify a difference in anesthesia use before and during COVID-19 among pediatric patients undergoing a surgical procedure. Further studies should estimate the change in anesthesia used during the time period when elective procedures were resumed.

The Reducing Opioid Use in Children with Clefts Protocol: A Multidisciplinary Quality Improvement Effort to Reduce Perioperative Opioid Use in Patients Undergoing Cleft Surgery.

BACKGROUND: Cleft repair requires multiple operations from infancy through adolescence, with repeated exposure to opioids and their associated risks. The authors implemented a quality improvement project to reduce perioperative opioid exposure in their cleft lip/palate population. METHODS: After identifying key drivers of perioperative opioid administration, quality improvement interventions were developed to address these key drivers and reduce postoperative opioid administration from 0.30 mg/kg of morphine equivalents to 0.20 mg/kg of morphine equivalents. Data were retrospectively collected from January 1, 2015, until initiation of the quality improvement project (May 1, 2017), tracked over the 6-month quality improvement study period, and the subsequent 14 months. Metrics included morphine equivalents of opioids received during admission, administration of intraoperative nerve blocks, adherence to revised electronic medical record order sets, length of stay, and pain scores. RESULTS: The final sample included 624 patients. Before implementation (n =354), children received an average of 0.30 mg/kg of morphine equivalents postoperatively. After implementation (n = 270), children received an average of 0.14 mg/kg of morphine equivalents postoperatively (p < 0.001) without increased length of stay (28.3 versus 28.7 hours; p = 0.719) or pain at less than 6 hours (1.78 versus 1.74; p = 0.626) or more than 6 hours postoperatively (1.50 versus 1.49; p = 0.924). CONCLUSIONS: Perioperative opioid administration after cleft repair can be reduced in a relatively short period by identifying key drivers and addressing perioperative education, standardization of intraoperative pain control, and postoperative prioritization of nonopioid medications and nonpharmacologic pain control. The authors' quality improvement framework has promise for adaptation in future efforts to reduce opioid use in other surgical patient populations. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, III.

Continuous Transversalis Fascia Plane Catheter Infusion in a Pediatric Patient Undergoing Alveolar Cleft Repair With Iliac Crest Bone Graft: A Case Report.

Harvesting of iliac crest bone graft for alveolar cleft repair in children is associated with significant postoperative pain. Transversalis fascia plane block has emerged as an alternative to local wound infiltration for iliac crest bone graft harvesting and has been used with good effect in adult patients requiring bone graft for orthopedic surgery. Little is known about the use of the transversalis fascia plane block in children or the feasibility of placing a continuous infusion catheter. In this report, we describe our experience using a continuous transversalis fascia plane infusion catheter in the management of a 6-year-old girl undergoing alveolar cleft repair with iliac crest bone graft.