Acta paediatrica
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Multicenter Study
Pain management in French neonatal intensive care units.
The aim of this study was to investigate pain management in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in France and to identify factors associated with variability across units. A questionnaire sent to 143 heads of level II or III NICUs investigated the use of pain scores, pain management organization and pharmacological treatment in five clinical situations (endotracheal intubation, prolonged mechanical ventilation, acute stage of necrotizing enterocolitis, central venous catheter insertion and cephalhaematoma). The response rate was 81%. Among the 35 (30%) units that used no pain scores, 40% ascribed this to lack of knowledge. Factors associated with failure to use pain scores were level II status, no university affiliation, no surgical patients and neonatal patients only. Among the units that scored pain, 78% used valid scores for acute pain and 73% for prolonged pain. Written guidelines were available for acute pain in 65% of units and for prolonged pain in 36%. The rate of pharmacotherapy use varied widely across the five clinical situations studied (from 16 to 77%) and across units for a given clinical situation. Also extremely variable were the regimens used in each situation and the dosages of analgesics and sedatives. Only 11% of units adjusted dosages to gestational age. ⋯ Pain assessment was performed in the most French NICUs, but a strong heterogeneity for pain treatment was observed. Reference to recently published pain management guidelines and new randomized trials could be useful to optimize pain treatment in NICUs.
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The presence in blood of proteins normally confined to the cytoplasm of brain cells is considered peripheral evidence of brain damage. Only recently have these proteins been measured in the blood of children at risk of brain damage. To show the value and limitations of measuring these proteins, we review their biology and the adult literature that has correlated the blood concentrations of these proteins with lesion size and dysfunction. ⋯ We conclude that brain damage markers will increasingly be measured in the blood of newborns and other children at risk of brain damage.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Food intake and oral sucrose in preterms prior to heel prick.
To investigate the soothing effect of feeding on infants in distress, the effects of 2 mL 15% and 1 mL 25% sucrose given orally 2 min before heel prick in fasting preterms to reduce the pain response were assessed. The effects of milk intake by nasogastric tube were also assessed once during the last hour before heel prick, and the effects of milk intake by nasogastric tube once during the last hour before heel prick together with 1 mL 25% sucrose given orally 2 min before heel prick. The pain response was measured as changes in crying time, behavioural state, skin conductance and heart rate. ⋯ Differences in the measured variables before and during heel prick showed that only the crying time was reduced when the infants received milk or 25% sucrose prior to heel prick (p < 0.05). If the infants received milk and 25% sucrose before heel prick, the crying time and the level of behavioural state were reduced (p < 0.05). The increase from before to during heel prick in skin conductance (number and amplitude of the waves) and heart rate correlated with the crying time (p < 0.01).
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Oral versus rectal midazolam as a pre-anaesthetic sedative in children receiving dental treatment under general anaesthesia.
Dental treatment in children who are too young or too apprehensive to cooperate is often performed under sedation. In Sweden, the tradition has been to administer sedatives rectally in small children, but oral liquid sedation is now increasingly used. ⋯ Both the oral and the rectal routes can in most cases be appropriate. However, the better sedative effect of rectal administration of midazolam makes it a more favourable route in pre-cooperative and non-compliant children.
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The objective of this study was to compare the results of polysomnography between infants with a history of apparent life-threatening event (ALTE) and controls. In this case-control study, 40 full-term ALTE infants, aged 2-36 wk at the time of the event, were compared with 40 age- and sex-matched randomly selected controls. SaO2, tcpO2, tcpCO2, heart rate (HR), vector of rib cage and abdominal respiratory movements (phase angle, as an index of inspiratory effort) were recorded during natural nocturnal active and quiet sleep (AS, QS). SaO2, tcpO2, tcpCO2 were similar in ALTE and controls in both sleep states. Phase angle was increased in ALTE infants in both AS (59+/-46 vs 26+/-17 degrees) and QS (53+/-46 vs 18+/-14, p < 0.001). Eleven ALTE infants (27.5%) experienced SaO2 < 90%, with a mean decrease in SaO2 to 86+/-1.6% (mean +/- SD), compared with 10% for controls (p=0.003). In eight ALTE infants, SaO2 values <90% were linked to thoracoabdominal asynchrony. SaO2 < 90% in conjunction with HR <100 bpm were detected in three ALTE infants and one control. Periodic breathing was observed in 45% of ALTE infants and 40% of controls. ⋯ The mean values of oxygen saturation, tcpO2 and carbon dioxide levels in ALTE infants are comparable with those of healthy controls but the ALTE infants exhibit more hypoxaemic episodes and increased inspiratory effort during sleep.