High-Flow Oxygen and Other Noninvasive Respiratory Support Therapies in Bronchiolitis: Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analyses.

OBJECTIVES: We present a systematic review on the effectiveness of noninvasive respiratory support techniques in bronchiolitis. DATA SOURCES: Systematic review with pairwise meta-analyses of all studies and network meta-analyses of the clinical trials. STUDY SELECTION: Patients below 24 months old with bronchiolitis who require noninvasive respiratory support were included in randomized controlled trials (RCTs), non-RCT, and cohort studies in which high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) was compared with conventional low-flow oxygen therapy (LFOT) and/or noninvasive ventilation (NIV). DATA EXTRACTION: Emergency wards and hospitalized patients with bronchiolitis. DATA SYNTHESIS: A total of 3,367 patients were analyzed in 14 RCTs and 8,385 patients in 14 non-RCTs studies. Only in nonexperimental studies, HFNC is associated with a lower risk of invasive mechanical ventilation (MV) than NIV (odds ratio, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.42-0.58), with no differences in experimental studies. There were no differences between HFNC and NIV in other outcomes. HFNC is more effective than LFOT in reducing oxygen days and treatment failure. In the network meta-analyses of clinical trials, NIV was the most effective intervention to avoid invasive MV (surface under the cumulative ranking curve [SUCRA], 57.03%) and to reduce days under oxygen therapy (SUCRA, 79.42%), although crossover effect estimates between interventions showed no significant differences. The included studies show methodological heterogeneity, but it is only statistically significant for the reduction of days of oxygen therapy and length of hospital stay. CONCLUSIONS: Experimental evidence does not suggest that high-flow oxygen therapy has advantages over LFOT as initial treatment nor over NIV as a rescue treatment.

[Descriptive statistical analysis of the treatment of status epilepticus in a referral hospital]. / Análisis descriptivo y estadístico del tratamiento de estados epilépticos en un hospital de referencia.

INTRODUCTION: Status epilepticus is defined as either recurring seizures without regaining consciousness between them or one single seizure lasting more than 30 minutes. AIMS: To perform a descriptive analysis of the most relevant data on the patients with status epilepticus who were admitted to a paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and to review the risk factors associated to status epilepticus with a poor prognosis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A study was conducted of the main variables of the patients with status epilepticus hospitalised in the PICU of a tertiary hospital over a period of six years. RESULTS: Data were collected on a total of 68 patients (55.9% males), the mean age being 3.7 years. The most frequent signs and symptoms were generalised tonic-clonic seizures (50%). The mean duration of the status epilepticus was 51.44 minutes. The mean number of antiepileptic drugs used to stem the seizures was 3.21 and the mean number of drugs used prior to admission to the PICU was 2.37. The most commonly used first choice drug was diazepam (83.8%) administered rectally (75%), followed by intravenous diazepam (52.9%) in second place and phenytoin was the most frequently used drug as the third choice. The most usual cause of status epilepticus was having previously suffered from epilepsy (33.9%), and Dravet's syndrome was the most frequent epileptic causation. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment of status epilepticus is complex and requires multidisciplinary and personalised management. Protocols and clinical guidelines need to be drawn up and reviewed to achieve an adequate management of these patients.

TITLE: Analisis descriptivo y estadistico del tratamiento de estados epilepticos en un hospital de referencia.Introduccion. Los estados epilepticos se definen como crisis recurrentes sin recuperacion de la conciencia entre ellas o una sola crisis de mas de 30 minutos. Objetivos. Realizar un analisis descriptivo de los datos mas relevantes de pacientes con estados epilepticos ingresados en la unidad de cuidados intensivos pediatricos (UCIP) y revisar los factores de riesgo asociados a estado epileptico de mal pronostico. Pacientes y metodos. Se estudiaron las variables principales de los pacientes ingresados en la UCIP con estado epileptico de un hospital terciario en un periodo de seis años. Resultados. Se recogieron 68 pacientes (el 55,9%, varones) con una edad media de 3,7 años. La semiologia mas frecuente fue en forma de crisis tonicoclonicas generalizadas (50%). La duracion media de los estados epilepticos fue de 51,44 minutos. Se utilizaron 3,21 farmacos antiepilepticos de media para yugular las crisis, y la media de farmacos utilizados previamente al ingreso en la UCIP fue de 2,37. El farmaco de primera linea mas utilizado fue el diacepam (83,8%) rectal (75%), seguido del diacepam (52,9%) por via intravenosa en segundo lugar, y la fenitoina fue el farmaco mas utilizado como tercera linea. La causa mas frecuente de estado epileptico fue padecer epilepsia previa (33,9%), y el sindrome de Dravet fue la etiologia epileptica mas frecuente. Conclusiones. El tratamiento de los estados epilepticos es complejo y exige un manejo multidisciplinar e individualizado. Es necesaria la elaboracion y revision de protocolos y guias clinicas para un adecuado manejo de estos pacientes.