Pediatr Crit Care Me
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · Sep 2005
What influences parents' decisions to limit or withdraw life support?
Decisions to forgo life support from critically ill children are commonly faced by parents and physicians. Previous research regarding parents' perspectives on the decision-making process has been limited by retrospective methods and the use of closed-ended questionnaires. We prospectively identified and described parents' self-reported influences on decisions to forgo life support from their children. Deeper understanding of parents' views will allow physicians to focus end-of-life discussions on factors important to parents and help resolve conflicts. ⋯ Prospective interviews with open-ended questions identified factors influencing parents' decision making not previously described in the critical care literature such as parents' past experiences with end-of-life decisions and their anticipated emotional adjustments and future resources. Inclusion of these factors into discussions is important to parents and may facilitate decisions regarding the limitation or withdrawal of life support.
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To report two cases of severe early-onset neonatal sepsis due to Streptococcus pneumoniae, including, to our knowledge, the first reported case of sepsis due to penicillin-resistant S. pneumoniae presenting as early-onset neonatal sepsis. ⋯ Clinicians should consider S. pneumoniae as a possible cause of fulminant nonresponsive sepsis in neonates. In areas where antimicrobial-resistant S. pneumoniae is prevalent, when culture results are known, or with a clinical course unresponsive to ampicillin, septic infants may require the addition of a penicillinase-resistant antibiotic to their therapeutic regimen until results of antibiotic sensitivity testing are known. Early transfer to a center with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation should be considered for symptomatic neonates.
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · Sep 2005
Case ReportsSevere lactic acidosis complicating metformin overdose successfully treated with high-volume venovenous hemofiltration and aggressive alkalinization.
In this report of a near-fatal metformin ingestion successfully treated with alkalinization and high-volume hemofiltration, we discuss the management of severe lactic acidosis and demonstrate that early aggressive intervention resulted in a positive outcome. ⋯ In this case, early and aggressive treatment of the acidosis and cardiovascular compromise with inotropes, venovenous hemofiltration, and large doses of sodium bicarbonate in metformin overdose resulted in a successful outcome even in the presence of severe acidosis and very high lactate levels.
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · Sep 2005
Pneumococcal meningitis in a pediatric intensive care unit: prognostic factors in a series of 49 children.
Despite advances in antibiotic therapy strategies and in pediatric intensive care, prognosis of Streptococcus pneumoniae meningitis remains very poor. However, few prognostic studies have been published, especially in pediatric populations. ⋯ S. pneumoniae meningitis remains a devastating childhood disease in developed countries. Three variables were independently associated with the in-hospital death in our series-high Pediatric Risk of Mortality II score, low white blood cells count, and low platelet count-reflecting the main importance of severe sepsis and neurologic presentation in establishing the prognosis of these patients.
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To describe a patient who had been taking ibuprofen for 3 days before the diagnosis of a massive pulmonary embolus without hypoxemia. ⋯ The absence of hypoxemia (including a normal alveolar-arterial oxygen difference) in our patient with a massive pulmonary embolus may have been related to cyclooxygenase inhibition due to ibuprofen, with improvement in ventilation-perfusion mismatch.