Renal replacement therapies in pediatric intensive care patients: experiences of one center in Turkey.

BACKGROUND: Despite constant improvements in caring for critically ill neonates and infants with congenital cardiac disease, sepsis, bone marrow and solid organ transplantation, acute renal failure (ARF) is an important problem in these children. ARF, severe fluid overload and inborn errors of metabolism are some of the indications for acute dialysis in infants and children. METHODS: The authors had retrospectively evaluated the medical records of Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Ankara University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey patients who had required acute renal replacement therapy between the dates of January 2002 to February 2005. RESULTS: Medical records of 332 patients were reviewed. Acute renal replacement therapy was performed in 21 patients (6.3%; mean age, 9.6 +/- 7.4 years). Dialysis modalities were peritoneal dialysis in 15 patients (71.4%; mean age, 3.9 +/- 5.6 years) and hemodialysis in six patients (28.6%; mean age, 12.1 +/- 3.2 years). A total of 90% of patients had severe systemic disease leading to ARF. A total of 95% of patients had multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. The most common cause of ARF was refractory shock. At the beginning of renal replacement therapy, 10 patients were anuric, nine patients had volume overload, seven patients had decompensated metabolic acidosis and nine patients had hypotension. The average dialysis period was 4.7 +/- 6.4 days. Mortality rate was 66.7%. Eight patients recovered from ARF and chronic renal failure had developed in one patient. CONCLUSION: In the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, ARF is frequently seen together with multiple organ dysfunction syndrome and the mortality rate is high. Both peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis are important renal replacement treatment modalities in patients with ARF. The age and hemodynamic status of the patients are important when choosing treatment modality; generally peritoneal dialysis is preferred in infants and toddler, while hemodialysis is preferred in older children.

Mechanical ventilation in children.

Mechanical ventilation can be lifesaving, but > 50% of complications in conditions that require intensive care are related to ventilatory support, particularly if it is prolonged. We retrospectively evaluated the medical records of patients who had mechanical ventilation in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) during a follow-up period between January 2002-May 2005. Medical records of 407 patients were reviewed. Ninety-one patients (22.3%) were treated with mechanical ventilation. Ages of all patients were between 1-180 (median: 8) months. The mechanical ventilation time was 18.8 +/- 14.1 days. Indication of mechanical ventilation could be divided into four groups as respiratory failure (64.8%), cardiovascular failure (19.7%), central nervous system disease (9.8%) and safety airway (5.4%). Tracheostomy was performed in four patients. The complication ratio of mechanically ventilated children was 42.8%, and diversity of complications was as follows: 26.3% atelectasia, 17.5% ventilator-associated pneumonia, 13.1% pneumothorax, 5.4% bleeding, 4.3% tracheal edema, and 2.1% chronic lung disease. The mortality rate of mechanically ventilated patients was 58.3%, but the overall mortality rate in the PICU was 12.2%. In conclusion, there are few published epidemiological data on the follow-up results and mortality in infants and children who are mechanically ventilated.