Intranasal dexmedetomidine for sedation in ABR testing in children: No pain, big gain!

OBJECTIVES: Obtaining perfect immobility or sleep in children undergoing ABR auditory brainstem response) testing can be challenging. We examined the effectiveness and safety of intranasal dexmedetomidine for sedation of children undergoing ABR testing. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We included prospectively all patients aged from 1 to 15 years for whom sedation for ABR testing was required, between July 2018 and November 2021. We administered an initial dose of 2.5 µg/kg intranasal dexmedetomidine with a repeat dose of 1 µg/kg if needed 30 min later. Collected data included success rate of sedation, sedation onset and recovery times and incidence of side effects. RESULTS: ABR testing was undertaken successfully in 57 of the 59 patients, giving a total success rate of 96,6 %. (95 % confidence interval 88.5 %-99.1 %). The median time to onset of sleep was 32 ± 18.3 min. The median duration of sedation recovery time was 48 ± 24.7 min. We recorded the adverse effects. Thirty-one patients experienced bradycardia and 28 patients experienced hypotension, all of which resolved without intervention. CONCLUSION: Intranasal dexmedetomidine is an effective, safe, simple of use and noninvasive method for sedation in children. It could have a major role in auditory brainstem response testing, specially in the case of non-cooperative children. REGISTRATION NUMBER OF THE TRIAL: NCT03530371.

A follow-up of pain reported by children undergoing outpatient surgery using a smartphone application: AlgoDARPEF multicenter descriptive prospective study.

ABSTRACT: In pediatric patients, pain remains the most common complaint after surgery. This French multicenter epidemiological study (AlgoDARPEF) aimed to evaluate the use of a smartphone application (App) to assess the duration and severity of pain experienced by children undergoing outpatient surgery. Children younger than 18 years scheduled for an elective outpatient procedure in one of the participating centers were eligible. Parents were invited to provide daily information for 10 days regarding their child's pain and comfort through a smartphone App using the Parents' Postoperative Pain Measure-Short-Form (PPPM-SF). Children older than 6 years could also provide self-assessments of pain using a numerical rating scale (NRS)-11. Data regarding pain medication, preoperative anxiety, postoperative nausea and vomiting, and parent satisfaction were also analyzed. Repeated-measures analyses of variances (ANOVAs) were used to compare the self-assessments and hetero-assessments of pain. Eleven centers participated in the study, and 1573 patients were recruited. Forty-nine percentage of parents (n = 772) actually used the App at least once. In all surgeries, the average pain rating on the PPPM-SF scale did not exceed 3/10 throughout the follow-up period, as well as for 4 main surgical specialties. Age, visceral surgery, and preoperative anxiety ≥ 4/10 were identified as independent risk factors for experiencing at least 1 episode of pain ≥4/10 during the first 48 postoperative hours. Although these findings indicated that postoperative pain management seems to be satisfactory in the families who used the App, some improvements in anxiety management are suggested. This study shows that inviting parents to use a smartphone App to assess and report the quality of postoperative management in pediatric patients provides useful information. A continuous report regarding pain and adverse events over a 10-day postoperative period by a self-reporting or parent's contribution is possible. Future studies should investigate the ability of live data collection using an App to ensure fast, efficient interactions between patients and physicians.

Evaluation of compliance with early postbirth follow-up and unnecessary visits to the paediatric emergency department: a prospective observational study at the Lenval Children's Hospital in Nice.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate compliance with the French National Authority for Health's (Haute Autorité de Santé, HAS) postbirth follow-up recommendations for newborns attending our paediatric emergency department (PED) and identify risk factors associated with non-compliance and unnecessary emergency department utilisation. DESIGN: Prospective, single centre. SETTING: Fourth biggest PED in France in terms of attendance (CHU-Lenval). PATIENTS: 280 patients of whom 249 were included in the statistical analysis. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome of this study was the evaluation of compliance of the care pathway for newborns consulting at the PED with respect to the French postbirth follow-up recommendations. Secondary outcome was the assessment of whether the visit to the PED was justified by means of PED reception software and two postconsultation interviews RESULTS: 77.5% (193) of the newborns had non-compliant care pathways and 43% (107) of PED visits were unnecessary. Risk factors associated with a non-compliance regarding the HAS's postbirth follow-up recommendations were: unnecessary visit to the PED (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.1 to 3.9), precariousness (OR 2.8, 95% CI 1.4 to 6.2), birth in a public maternity hospital (OR 2.5, 95% CI 1.3 to 4.8) and no information about HAS's postbirth follow-up recommendations on discharge from maternity ward (OR 11.4, 95% CI 5.8 to 23.3). Risk factors for unnecessary PED visits were: non-compliant care pathway (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.1 to 3.9) and a first medical visit at a PED (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.1 to 3.1). CONCLUSION: Postbirth follow-up may lead to decrease unnecessary emergency department visits unnecessary emergency department visits. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: The study bears the clinical trial number NCT02863627.

Health-related quality of life of food-allergic children compared with healthy controls and other diseases.

BACKGROUND: Food allergy is a potentially life-threatening disease, affecting up to 10% of the pediatric population. OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to assess the health-related quality of life (HRQL) of food-allergic patients compared with the general population and patients with other chronic diseases with dietary or allergic burden, in a cross-sectional study. METHODS: We recruited patients aged 8-17 years diagnosed with food allergy and matched healthy controls recruited in schools. We also included patients with asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, celiac disease, diabetes, obesity, and eating disorders. We used the CHQ-CF87 questionnaire for generic HRQL assessment. Food allergy HRQL was also assessed using specific questionnaires: Food Allergy Quality of Life Questionnaire (FAQLQ) and Food Allergy Independent Measure (FAIM). RESULTS: One hundred and thirty-five food-allergic children, 255 children with chronic diseases, and 463 healthy controls were included in the analyses. Food-allergic patients had a better HRQL than healthy controls in the Behavior (BE), Bodily Pain (BP), Family Activities (FA), and Mental Health (MH) domains and a worse HRQL in the General Health Perception (GH) domain (p = .048). Food-allergic patients exhibited a better HRQL than patients affected by other chronic diseases, notably diabetes. Although an epinephrine autoinjector had been prescribed to 87.4% of the food-allergic children, only 54.2% of them carried it at all times. CONCLUSION: Food-allergic patients display overall good HRQL compared with the general population and those with other diseases with daily symptoms and treatments, in line with recent improvements in food allergy management.

Quick-Wee versus bladder stimulation to collect midstream urine from precontinent infants under 1 year of age: a study protocol for a randomised controlled trial (ES.Stimquick.U).

INTRODUCTION: Urinary tract infections occur in around 1%-4% of boys and 3%-8% of girls under 2 years old. Diagnosis is difficult because of non-specific symptoms and the risk of urine analysis contamination depending on the sampling method used for precontinent infants. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommend transurethral catheterisation and suprapubic aspiration because of a low contamination rate but these techniques are invasive. On the other hand, while the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence advocate clean catch urine for its minimal invasiveness and acceptable contamination rate, it is difficult to accomplish in precontinent infants. Two recent methods have been described: the Quick-Wee method by Kaufman et al (suprapubic stimulation with cold saline-soaked gauze); and bladder stimulation by Herreros et al then by Tran et al (pubic tapping alternating with lumbar massage). This study aims to compare the effectiveness in collecting midstream urine by bladder stimulation vs the Quick-Wee method in infants under 1 year, before walking. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This study is a multicentre randomised controlled trial of 230 infants under 1 year and before walking who need urine analysis, conducted in four paediatric emergency departments in France. Patients will be randomised into two groups: bladder stimulation and Quick-Wee method.The primary endpoint will be the success rate of voiding at least 2 mL of urine in less than 5 min.Secondary outcomes are the time to collect at least 2 mL of urine, comfort, quality of urine and the risk factors associated with failure of the two techniques. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study protocol was approved by the French national ethic committee (consultative committee of the protection of persons). The results of the study will be published in a peer-reviewed journal. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: Clinical Trials Registry - NCT04587999. DATE AND PROTOCOL VERSION IDENTIFIER: October 2020, V.1.

Magnetic resonance microscopy may enable distinction between normal histomorphological features and prostate cancer in the resected prostate gland.

OBJECTIVES: To determine imaging protocol parameters for characterization of prostate tissue at histological length scales. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Rapid acquisition with relaxation enhancement, spin echo and gradient echo fast low angle shot data were acquired using ex vivo 3-Tesla or 7-Tesla magnetic field strengths from fresh prostatectomy specimens (n = 15) obtained from either organ donor or patients with prostate cancer (PCa). To achieve the closest correspondence between histopathological components and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) results, in terms of resolution and sectioning planes, multiple high-resolution imaging protocols (ranging from a few minutes to overnight) were tested. Ductograms were generated as part of image post-processing. Specimens were subsequently submitted for histopathological evaluation. RESULTS: A total of seven imaging protocols were tested. Ex vivo 7-Tesla MRI identified normal components of prostate glands, including ducts, blood vessels, concretions and stroma at a spatial resolution of 60 × 60 × 60 µm3 to 107 × 107 × 500 µm3 . Malignant glands and nests of tumour cells identified at 60 × 60 × 90 µm3 were highly similar to low-magnification (×2) histopathology. Ductograms enhanced the differentiation between benign and malignant glands. The results of the present study were encouraging, and further work is warranted with a larger sample size. CONCLUSION: We showed that critical histopathological features of the prostate gland can be identified with high-resolution ex vivo MRI examination and this offers promise that MRI microscopy of PCa will ultimately be possible in vivo.