Pediatr Crit Care Me
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · Jan 2011
Editorial CommentAre we there yet? Improved patient survival with mock codes.
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · Jan 2011
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyAdjunctive corticosteroid therapy in pediatric severe sepsis: observations from the RESOLVE study.
To assess whether corticosteroids, used as adjunctive therapy for pediatric severe sepsis, is associated with improved outcomes. ⋯ Children with severe sepsis who received adjunctive corticosteroid therapy exhibited similar illness severity compared with those who did not. No definitive improvement in outcomes can be attributable to adjunctive corticosteroid therapy in the largest pediatric sepsis trial conducted to date.
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · Jan 2011
Randomized Controlled TrialBlood transfusion is associated with prolonged duration of mechanical ventilation in infants undergoing reparative cardiac surgery.
Perioperative transfusion has adverse effects in adults undergoing cardiac surgery. We sought to investigate whether greater use of blood and blood products might be an independent predictor of prolonged postoperative recovery, indicated by duration of mechanical ventilation (DMV), after reparative infant heart surgery. ⋯ In this exploratory secondary analysis of infants undergoing two ventricular repair of congenital heart disease without aortic arch obstruction, greater intraoperative and early postoperative blood transfusion emerged as potential important risk factors for longer DMV. Future prospective clinical trials are needed to determine whether reduction in blood product administration hastens postoperative recovery after infant heart surgery.
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · Jan 2011
Randomized Controlled TrialChildren with single-ventricle physiology do not benefit from higher hemoglobin levels post cavopulmonary connection: results of a prospective, randomized, controlled trial of a restrictive versus liberal red-cell transfusion strategy.
To examine the impact of a restrictive vs. liberal transfusion strategy on arterial lactate and oxygen content differences in children with single-ventricle physiology post cavopulmonary connection. Children with single-ventricle physiology are routinely transfused postoperatively to increase systemic oxygen delivery, and transfusion thresholds in this population have not been studied. ⋯ Children with single-ventricle physiology do not benefit from a liberal transfusion strategy after cavopulmonary connection. A restrictive red blood cell transfusion strategy decreases the number of transfusions, donor exposures, and potential risks in these children. Larger studies with clinical outcome measures are needed to determine the transfusion threshold for children post cardiac repair or palliation for congenital heart disease.