Pediatr Crit Care Me
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · Sep 2018
Practice GuidelineRecommendations on RBC Transfusion in Infants and Children With Acquired and Congenital Heart Disease From the Pediatric Critical Care Transfusion and Anemia Expertise Initiative.
To present the recommendations and supporting literature for RBC transfusions in critically ill children with acquired and congenital heart disease developed by the Pediatric Critical Care Transfusion and Anemia Expertise Initiative. ⋯ We present RBC transfusion management recommendations for the critically ill child with cardiac disease. Clinical recommendations emphasize relevant hemoglobin thresholds, and research recommendations emphasize need for further understanding of physiologic and hemoglobin thresholds and alternatives to RBC transfusion in subpopulations lacking pediatric literature.
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · Sep 2018
Observational StudyAn Observational Cohort Feasibility Study to Identify Microvesicle and Micro-RNA Biomarkers of Acute Kidney Injury Following Pediatric Cardiac Surgery.
Micro-RNA, small noncoding RNA fragments involved in gene regulation, and microvesicles, membrane-bound particles less than 1 μm known to regulate cellular processes including responses to injury, may serve as disease-specific biomarkers of acute kidney injury. We evaluated the feasibility of measuring these signals as well as other known acute kidney injury biomarkers in a mixed pediatric cardiac surgery population. ⋯ Microvesicles and micro-RNAs expression patterns in pediatric cardiac surgery patients can be measured in children and potentially serve as tools for stratification of patients at risk of acute kidney injury.
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · Sep 2018
Predictive Factors for Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infections in Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Patients With Chylothorax.
To assess the prevalence of central line-associated bloodstream infections in pediatric patients with and without chylothorax after cardiac surgery and identify risk factors that predict those patients at highest risk for developing a central line-associated bloodstream infection. ⋯ The prevalence of central line-associated bloodstream infection is higher in pediatric patients with chylothorax after heart surgery. In patients with chylothorax, complexity of surgery, central venous catheter duration, and chest tube output are associated with increased risk for developing a central line-associated bloodstream infection. Using this knowledge will allow us to identify patients at increased risk for central line-associated bloodstream infections and to focus extra prevention efforts on them.
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Pediatric intensivists frequently prescribe platelet transfusions to critically ill children, but there are limited data on platelet transfusion practice and platelet transfusion-related outcomes in the PICU. In this study, we evaluated the current platelet transfusion practice and platelet transfusion-related outcomes in the PICU. ⋯ This PICU cohort demonstrates that the odds or predicted probability of dying change in patients who received platelet transfusions based on underlying disease severity measured by Pediatric Risk of Mortality-3 score compared with patients who did not receive platelet transfusions. A large, prospective trial is required to confirm this association and determine whether to consider underlying disease severity in estimating risks and benefits of prophylactic platelet transfusions in critically ill children.
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · Sep 2018
The Pediatric Index of Mortality as a Trigger Tool for the Detection of Serious Errors and Adverse Events.
To test the hypothesis that patients who die in a PICU despite a low predicted mortality at PICU admission are affected by serious errors and adverse events. ⋯ The records of PICU patients with a low expected mortality at admission and death in PICU should be reviewed routinely and/or discussed at morbidity and mortality meetings. These patients may have experienced more in-hospital safety-related events compared with PICU patients with a low Pediatric Index of Mortality who survived. Such adverse events may be amenable to system changes, thus improving patient care.