Paediatric anaesthesia
-
Paediatric anaesthesia · Nov 2021
Researchers' choice of pain scales in trials of children undergoing surgery: a cross-sectional analysis of systematically searched randomized controlled trials and survey of authors.
Many pain scales are used post-operatively in pediatric trials, making the comparison of trials, and the pooling of data for meta-analyses difficult. The Pediatric Initiative on Methods, Measurement, and Pain Assessment in Clinical Trials (PedIMMPACT) statement, published in 2008, attempted to address this issue. We aimed to investigate the reasons for authors' choice of pain scales and the potential impact of PedIMMPACT. ⋯ A large variety of pain scales are still used in pediatric post-operative pain trials 12 years after the publication of PedIMMPACT. Only a minority of trials provided an explanation for their choice of pain scale. The reasons given most often included that the scale was validated or it was justified by a reference to a prior study using that scale. The impact of the publication of the PedIMMPACT seems limited. The ethics of the ongoing usage of large numbers of pain scales in pediatric pain trials must be challenged.
-
Paediatric anaesthesia · Nov 2021
Clinical implication of intraoperative ventricular-arterial coupling in pediatric patients undergoing ventricular septal defects repair: a retrospective cohort study.
Ventricular-arterial coupling is the ratio of arterial elastance to ventricular end-systolic elastance. ⋯ Ventricular-arterial coupling can be easily obtained from the intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography in pediatric patients undergoing ventricular septal defects repair. High postoperative ventricular-arterial coupling is strongly associated with worse early postoperative outcomes. Ventricular-arterial coupling shows promise as an intraoperative analysis tool that can provide insight into the impact of interventions on cardiovascular performance and identify potential targets for treatment in this population.
-
Paediatric anaesthesia · Nov 2021
Randomized Controlled TrialPreoperative anxiety in preschool children: A randomized clinical trial comparing midazolam, clonidine, and dexmedetomidine.
Anxiety in pediatric patients may challenge perioperative anesthesiology management and worsen postoperative outcomes. Sedative drugs aimed to reducing anxiety are available with different pharmacologic profiles, and there is no consensus on their effect or the best option for preschool children. In this study, we aimed to compare the effect of three different premedications on anxiety before anesthesia induction in preschool children aged 2-6 years scheduled for elective surgery. The secondary outcomes comprised distress during peripheral catheter (PVC) insertion, compliance at anesthesia induction, and level of sedation. ⋯ In preschool children, midazolam resulted in a more effective anxiolysis and less sedation compared to clonidine and dexmedetomidine.
-
Paediatric anaesthesia · Nov 2021
Randomized Controlled TrialGastric emptying time of two different quantities of clear fluids in children: a double blinded randomised controlled study.
Perioperative pulmonary aspiration risk increases with increased preoperative gastric volume; hence traditionally, healthy children are kept fasted overnight before surgery. Current guidelines recommend 2-h clear fluids fasting prior to anesthesia. However, emerging evidence favors allowing 3 ml/kg clear fluids up to 1-h before anesthesia. We compared the gastric volume and gastric emptying time after ingestion of 3 ml/kg and 5 ml/kg of clear fluids. ⋯ As the gastric volume returned to baseline within 1-h even after ingesting 5 ml/kg clear fluids, the preoperative fasting time can be reduced to 1-h and healthy children undergoing elective procedure can be safely allowed to drink up to 5 ml/kg clear fluids.