• Seth A Hollander, Kari Wujcik, Julie Schmidt, Esther Liu, Aileen Lin, John Dykes, Julie Good, Michelle Brown, and David Rosenthal.
• Department of Pediatrics (Cardiology) (S.A.H., J.D., D.R.), Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, USA; Solid Organ Transplant Services (K.W., J.S.), Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford, Palo Alto, California, USA; Pediatric Pulmonary Hypertension Service (E.L.), Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford, Palo Alto, California, USA; Pulmonary Hypertension Service (A.L.), Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, USA; Department of Anesthesiology (J.G.), Perioperative and Pain Medicine (and by courtesy, Pediatrics), Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, USA; Departments of Psychiatry & Palliative Care (M.B.), Stanford University/, Palo Alto, California, USA. Electronic address: seth.hollander@stanford.edu.
• J Pain Symptom Manage. 2023 Mar 1; 65 (3): 216221216-221.

ContextThe symptom profile of children dying from cardiac disease, especially heart failure, differs from those with cancer and other non-cardiac conditions. Treatment with vasoactive infusions at home may be a superior therapy for symptom control for these patients, rather than traditional pain and anxiety management with morphine and benzodiazepines.ObjectivesWe report our experience using outpatient milrinone in children receiving hospice care for end-stage heart failure.MethodsRetrospective review of a contemporary cohort of all patients at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Stanford who were discharged on intravenous milrinone and hospice care between 2008 and 2021. Clinical data, including cardiac diagnosis, milrinone dose and route of administration, total milrinone days, symptoms reported, rehospitalization rates, concurrent therapies and complications were analyzed.ResultsAmong 8 patients, median duration of home milrinone infusion was 191 (33, 572) days with the longest support duration 1,054 days. All (100%) patients were also receiving diuretics at the time of death. Five (63%) were receiving no other pain control medications until the active phase of dying. From milrinone initiation to last outpatient assessment, a reduction in the number of patients reporting respiratory discomfort, abdominal pain, weight loss/lack of appetite, and fatigue was observed. Six (75%) died at home.ConclusionWe used milrinone with oral diuretics effectively for symptom control in children with heart failure on palliative care. Our experience was that this combination can be used safely in the outpatient setting for long-term use without the addition of opiates, benzodiazepines, or supplemental oxygen in most cases.Copyright © 2022 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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