Paediatric minimally invasive abdominal and urological surgeries: Current trends and perioperative management.

Minimally invasive surgery during abdominal, thoracic and urological procedures has become the standard management of many surgical interventions in adults. Recent development of smaller devices has allowed the management of many paediatric surgeries using these minimally invasive techniques. However, the lack of knowledge of (a) adequate management of haemodynamic and respiratory alterations occurring during those procedures and (b) postoperative advantages of these techniques over open surgeries, still impairs their development. The current review aimed to clarify mechanisms of those haemodynamic and respiratory alterations, propose easy rules in order to overcome them and shed the light on potential postoperative advantages of minimally invasive surgery in paediatrics.

Postoperative complications following neonatal and infant surgery: Common events and predictive factors.

BACKGROUND: Data on major non-surgical postoperative complications following neonatal and infant surgery is lacking. The goal of the present study was to describe common major complications and their predictive factors. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study consisted of a retrospective review of medical charts of patients less than 6months of age operated in our institution over one calendar year, excluding herniorraphy surgery. The data collected included demographics, preoperative ICU bed status, ASA status, a history of cardiac malformation, hyaline membrane disease (HMD) or necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), preoperative haemoglobin, emergent surgery status, surgery type and duration, duration of anaesthesia and the need for intraoperative fluid boluses. Complications were analysed until the 30th postoperative day. Analyses included descriptive statistics and the determination of factors associated with non-surgical complications using univariate and multivariate statistics. RESULTS: The study included 168 patients. Their postnatal age was 48±48days. Overall, 37 patients experienced major postoperative non-surgical complications. The most common major complications were haemodynamic compromise (n=19, 11.3%), multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS, n=8, 4.8%) and respiratory failure requiring ventilation (n=3, 1.8%). Surgical complications occurred in 8 cases (4.8%). Four factors were identified as being predictive of non-surgical complications: PCA<40 weeks, a history of cardiac malformation, HMD or NEC, preoperative ICU status and intraoperative fluid bolus administration. CONCLUSION: This study describes common non-surgical postoperative complications in neonates and infants, and their risk factors. They were much more common than surgical complications. Further studies should focus on preventive strategies addressing these complications.

Intraoperative changes in blood pressure associated with cerebral desaturation in infants.

BACKGROUND: Intraoperative hypotension has been linked to poor postoperative neurological outcomes. However, the definition of hypotension remains controversial in children. We sought to determine arterial blood pressure threshold values associated with cerebral desaturation in infants. METHODS: After ethics committee approval, infants younger than 3 months were included in this prospective observational study. Cerebral saturation was assessed using near-infrared spectroscopy. The primary goal of the study was to determine percentage reductions in intraoperative systolic blood pressure (SBP) and mean blood pressure (MBP) associated with decreases in cerebral blood oxygen saturation of >20%, when compared to baseline. Analyses were performed using a bootstrap receiving operator characteristic (ROC) curves with determination of the gray zone. RESULTS: Sixty patients were recruited and 960 measurement points were recorded. Fifty-nine data points (6.1%) recorded cerebral desaturation of >20% when compared to baseline. The areas under the ROC curves were 0.79 (0.74-0.84) and 0.67 (0.6-0.75) for percentage decreases in SBP and MBP, respectively. Gray zone values with false-positive and negative rates <10% were SBP decreases of 20.5% and 37.5%, respectively, and MBP decreases of 15.5% and 44.5%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that falls in noninvasive systolic blood pressure of <20% from baseline are associated with a <10% chance of cerebral desaturation in neonates and infants <3 months of age undergoing noncardiac surgery. As such, maintaining systolic blood pressure above this threshold value appears a valid clinical target.

A review of 5434 percutaneous pediatric central venous catheters inserted by anesthesiologists.

OBJECTIVE: To review the results of an anesthesiologist led pediatric percutaneous central venous access service. METHODS: Prospective data on percutaneous pediatric central venous catheter (CVC) insertions were collected over 22 years. Data included age, gender, weight, previous central CVCs, venous thromboses, investigations for great vein patency, type of CVC, external diameter, previous CVC insertions, intended use, operator identity, and the vein into which the CVC was inserted. The default technique was internal jugular vein cannulation using landmark technique (LT). Complication was defined as the following: failure to cannulate any vein, hemothorax, pneumothorax, right atrial perforation, extravenous wire positioning or CVC position and whether the patient was taken back to theater for CVC repositioning. RESULTS: Five thousand four hundred and thirty-four percutaneous CVC insertion procedures were performed on 3954 patients. One-third involved children <1 year of age (n = 1823: 34%). Five thousand one hundred and twenty-five CVCs (95.3%) were inserted into internal jugular veins. The majority were tunneled CVCs (n = 5190: 96.2%). The perioperative complication rate was 1.3%. Successful cannulation occurred in 99.5% of patients. Failure was more likely in children <3 kg, during large bore hemodialysis CVC insertions and during the first 4 years of the service - the latter suggesting a learning curve. Ninety-nine percent of CVCs were inserted using LTs. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates a high success rate and low complication rate during pediatric percutaneous internal jugular vein CVC insertions by trained anesthesiologists using LTs. Smaller children, hemodialysis CVCs, and the team's learning curve were identified as risk factors for insertion failure.

Evaluation of intestinal absorption after longitudinal intestinal lengthening for short bowel syndrome.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to answer if the longitudinal intestinal lengthening and tailoring (LILT) by Bianchi, modified by Aigrain, can allow the child to be weaned from parenteral nutrition (PN) and if the length of the bowel after the procedure can influence the results of the absorption test such as Schilling or D-xylose test. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We reviewed the files of 7 children who have had LILT from 1980 to 2003. We performed to explore 2 intestinal function tests: the D-xylose and the Schilling tests. Both were performed early (during the first year after the procedure) and late (during the second year) after the LILT. We used the chi2 and Bartlett's correlation tests for statistical analysis. RESULTS: There were 6 boys and 1 girl. The surgical indication was short bowel syndrome with parenteral nutrition owing to multiple intestinal atresia (2 cases), severe necrotizing enterocolitis with volvulus (1 case), necrotizing enterocolitis (1 case), intestinal atresia with gastroschisis (2 cases), and volvulus owing to malrotation (1 case). The length of the bowel was significantly different before and after LILT (P < .0001). After LILT, the length of the bowel was significantly correlated with the percentage of PN on energy at 6 months (P = .02) and at 12 months (P = .001). Moreover, the length of the bowel after the procedure was significantly correlated with the results of the D-xylose test during the first year (P = .002) but not with the results after the second year. The length after lengthening influenced neither the results of the Schilling test during the first nor those of the second year after. Four patients were weaned from the PN 21 months in average after the LILT (57%); 1 was not because we had only a 2-month follow-up. The average follow-up was 111 (5 months; range, 4-206). CONCLUSION: Longitudinal intestinal lengthening and tailoring for short bowel syndrome is a good option to allow children to be weaned from the PN. The length of the bowel after the procedure can influence the absorption test such as D-xylose during the first postoperative year but not during the second and does not influence the Schilling test. We think it is not necessary to perform these tests during the follow-up of these patients.

Separate-lung ventilation strategy for reimplantation of esophageal bronchus.

IMPLICATIONS: We describe an original ventilation method designed to optimize lung recruitment and gas exchanges during surgery in a newborn with congenital esophageal atresia and ectopic esophageal implantation of the left mainstem bronchus. This strategy ensured constant adaptation of the mechanical ventilatory regimen to the surgical procedure-linked constraints.