Minerva pediatrica
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Case Reports
[An unusual pneumomediastinum case in a child caused by spontaneous bronchial rupture].
We report a case of spontaneous pneumomediastinum (SPM) in a 3 year-old child, admitted to the emergency department because he presented dyspnea for a few hours, after a paroxysm of cough. The SPM is rare in children; the term "spontaneous" is reserved for cases of pneumomediastinum that haven't a traumatic cause. SPM is seen most commonly in asthmatics and in any patient who induces a Valsalva maneuver. ⋯ In the literature SPM cases are very rare, at least in health patients without tracheobronchial anomalies. The SPM is generally a benign entity that requires supportive care, and resolution occurs spontaneously, such as in our patient. In this article we want to explain the main clinical, diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of SPM, because, even if it's rare in children, it must be considered in the differential diagnosis of dyspnea; then we want to demonstrate as, in this case, a TC scan was important to identifying the SPM cause: a bronchial rupture.
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The neonatal lupus erythematosus syndrome (LEN) is a disease due to the transplacental passage of maternal antiextractable nuclear antigens (ENA) antibodies, particularly anti-Ro/SS-A and anti-La/SS-B. The disease affects neonates born from mothers with autoimmune diseases. ⋯ The Authors describe a case of LEN characterized by isolated atrioventricular block at birth and endocardial fibroelastosis without skin lesions in a preterm infant female. She was born from asymptomatic, ANA (Anti-Nuclear Antibodies) and ENA (anti-Extractable Nuclear Antigen) positive mother, with a previous miscarriage at the 5th week of gestation.
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The advances in perinatal care have led to a significant increase in neonatal survival rate but also to the rise of the number of invasive procedures. Several scientific studies show that newborns are able to feel pain more intensely than adults. Despite this evidence, neonatal pain and the right to an appropriate analgesia are systematically underestimated, ignoring ethical and moral principles of beneficence and non-maleficence. ⋯ The right to analgesia, fundamental principle, is fully incorporated in the Italian code of Medical deontology (article 3). The doctor who does not use analgesia for newborns' treatment can be indicted by the Italian penal code (art.582 and 583), aggravated by being the victim an infant, who is unable to defend himself. To avoid penal consequences, a careful education and attention are needed: "pediatric analgesia" should become a basic teaching in Universities and in specialization schools; analgesic treatments should be mandatory and annotated in the patient's file even for minor potentially painful procedures.
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The aim of this paper was to assess brain injury occurrence among in vitro fertilization (IVF) babies. ⋯ In IVF babies, brain injury occurred more frequently than in the rest of population. This is probably due to a higher rate of premature births and low birth weight in IVF population. Anyway, this data should be disclosed to future parents to make an informed decision.
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Fluid balance management in pediatric critically ill patients is a challenging task, since fluid overload (FO) in the pediatric ICU is considered a trigger of multiple organ dysfunction. Pediatric patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) have several pre, intra and postoperative risk factors of derangements in fluid management. In particular, the smallest patients with acute kidney injury are at highest risk of developing severe interstitial edema, capillary leak syndrome and FO. ⋯ The present review will discuss recent literature addressing the issue of fluid balance in critically ill children with CHD, dosages, benefits and drawbacks of diuretic therapy, alternative diuretic/nephroprotective drugs currently proposed in the pediatric cardiac surgery setting. Monitoring of fluid balance will be reviewed. Specific modalities of pediatric extracorporeal fluid removal will be presented.