Pediatr Crit Care Me
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · Oct 2014
Reducing Blood Testing in Pediatric Patients After Heart Surgery: A Quality Improvement Project.
To safely optimize blood testing and costs for pediatric cardiac surgical patients without adversely impacting patient outcomes. ⋯ Blood testing rates were safely decreased in postoperative pediatric cardiac patients by changing laboratory ordering practices. In addition, packed RBC transfusion was decreased among the most complex patients.
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · Oct 2014
Multicenter Study Observational StudyUse of Therapeutic Plasma Exchange in Children With Thrombocytopenia-Associated Multiple Organ Failure in the Turkish Thrombocytopenia-Associated Multiple Organ Failure Network.
Thrombocytopenia-associated multiple organ failure can lead to high mortality in critically ill children, possibly related to consequences of thrombotic microangiopathy. Plasma exchange therapy may improve thrombotic microangiopathy. The purpose of this observational cohort study is to describe whether there is an association between use of plasma exchange therapy and outcome in the Turkish thrombocytopenia-associated multiple organ failure network. ⋯ The positive association found between use of plasma exchange therapy and improved survival supports the potential of this therapy in Turkish children with thrombocytopenia-associated multiple organ failure. The positive, although less so, associated treatment effect observed after controlling for illness severity provides further rationale for performing a randomized controlled trial in the pediatric Turkish thrombocytopenia-associated multiple organ failure network. Sample size calculations call for a 100-patient trial with a pre hoc interim analysis after enrollment of 50 patients with thrombocytopenia-associated multiple organ failure.