Paediatric anaesthesia
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Nov 2020
ReviewReducing paediatric exposure to environmental tobacco smoke: the effects of paediatric exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and the role of paediatric peri-operative care.
Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) has deleterious effects on a child's general health and their perioperative risk; specifically, it doubles a child's perioperative risk of adverse respiratory events, particularly laryngospasm. It increases the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, bacterial meningitis, middle ear infection, asthma, and lower respiratory tract infection. The preoperative assessment of children presenting for procedures under general anesthesia is an opportune moment to screen for exposure to ETS and give information about the risks and cessation support (if applicable). ⋯ Thus, recording a household smoking status and referring to local smoking cessation services targets a public health measure with benefits beyond the individual patient and planned anesthetic. There is no evidence in the literature of the effect of environmental exposure to electronic cigarettes ("vaping") on a child's perioperative health. Further research is needed to establish if preoperative reduction in or removal from exposure to ETS reduces the risk of respiratory adverse events in the child.
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Nov 2020
Infant peripherally inserted central catheter insertion without general anesthesia.
Avoiding anesthesia for infant peripherally inserted central catheter insertion beyond the neonatal period has been the subject of very little research despite this being a high-risk age group. In our institution, we introduced a "Fast, Feed, and Wrap" technique, previously described for magnetic resonance imaging scans, for infants up to 6 months and weighing under 5.5 kg undergoing peripherally inserted central catheter insertion. ⋯ Infants younger than 6 months and under 5.5 kg can be managed without general anesthesia for peripherally inserted central catheter insertion using a Fast, Feed, and Wrap technique.
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Nov 2020
ReviewMoyamoya disease in children and its anesthetic implications: A review.
Moyamoya disease is a rare, progressive cerebral vasculopathy which most commonly presents in the first and fourth decades of life. The mainstay of treatment is surgical revascularization; without treatment, most patients experience ischemic or hemorrhagic strokes. This report reviews moyamoya disease, its associated conditions, surgical treatment techniques, and anesthetic management of patients with moyamoya disease.
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Nov 2020
Use of a Simulation-based Mastery Learning Curriculum to Improve Ultrasound-guided Vascular Access Skills of Pediatric Anesthesiologists.
Pediatric vascular access is inherently challenging due to the small caliber of children's vessels. Ultrasound-guided intravenous catheter insertion has been shown to increase success rates and decrease time to cannulation in patients with difficult intravenous access. Although proficiency in ultrasound-guided intravenous catheter insertion is a critical skill in pediatric anesthesia, there are no published competency-based training curricula. ⋯ Simulation-based mastery learning significantly improved anesthesiologists' ultrasound-guided intravenous catheter insertion performance in a simulated setting.
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Nov 2020
Dimensional compatibility of balloon-tipped bronchial blockers with the pediatric airway anatomy using different recommendations for age-related size selection.
Age-related recommendations for size selection of bronchial blocker devices are based on a few dated anatomical autopsy and radiological studies determining lower airway dimensions in children. These recommendations are based on anterior-posterior internal bronchial diameters, which are smaller than the more relevant lateral internal bronchial diameters. ⋯ This analysis demonstrates that irrespective of the recommendation for size selection used, neither the two balloon-tipped vascular catheters included nor the Arndt endobronchial blockers are ideal for lung isolation in children are compared with the age-related relevant dimensions of pediatric airway anatomy. A redesign of bronchial blocker equipment with age-related anatomically based high-volume, low-pressure blocker balloons made from ultrathin membranes and with smaller catheters would be desirable.