Has the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic Played a Role in the Early Detection of Pulmonary Embolism in Children?

OBJECTIVE: Pulmonary embolism (PE) poses a significant threat to children, and nonspecific symptoms lead to delayed diagnosis. The emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has increased the complexity as it is associated with similar symptoms and increased risk of thrombotic complications. This study aimed to assess the risk factors, clinical presentations, and diagnostic features of PE in pediatric patients and to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children with PE. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective descriptive study examining the clinical and diagnostic data of 44 pediatric patients with radiologically confirmed PE. The study compared and analyzed patients diagnosed before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS: In the study, 21 of 44 pediatric patients were diagnosed in the 4 years before the COVID-19 pandemic, and 23 were diagnosed with PE during the COVID-19 pandemic. The mean time to diagnosis was 8 (2 to 14) days before the pandemic and 1 (1 to 2) days during the pandemic ( P < 0.001). The most common associated condition in both groups was infection (65.9%). Dyspnea (65.9%) and tachypnea (50.0%) were common symptoms. Except for deep vein thrombosis, there were no significant differences according to associated conditions between the groups ( P = 0.001). Pulmonary emboli were anatomically detected using computed tomography angiography, showing bilateral involvement in 45.4% of patients, segmental artery involvement in 38.6%, and main artery involvement in 15.9%. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic heightened suspicion of pediatric PE and accelerated diagnosis. Standardized diagnostic guidelines are increasingly necessary to balance accurate diagnosis with avoiding excessive imaging.

Surgery versus conservative management in congenital lobar emphysema: follow up and indicators for surgery.

INTRODUCTION: Congenital lobar emphysema (CLE), a rare developmental lung malformation, involves the hyperaeration of one or more lung lobes caused by partial obstruction and occurs at a rate of 1/20,000-30,000 live births. Here, we aimed to retrospectively examine the clinical, radiological, and bronchoscopy findings of patients with CLE who were diagnosed and treated by surgical or non-surgical (conservative) approaches at our center and compared our results with those in the literature. METHODS: We examined the clinical, radiological, and bronchoscopy findings of 20 patients with CLE aged 0-18 years at our center between 2013 and 2020. In addition, we examined the symptoms and findings recorded during the patients' follow-up in this retrospective descriptive study. RESULTS: The median age of 20 patients with CLE at diagnosis was 3.2 years (range 1 day-17 years). Respiratory distress and mediastinal shift were more prominent in patients who underwent surgery, and they were diagnosed at an earlier age compared with patients who were followed up conservatively (p = 0.001, 0.049, 0.001, respectively). Neither the pulmonary lobe involvement nor the bronchoscopy findings were found to be indicative of surgery. DISCUSSION: We observed that respiratory distress and mediastinal shift were more prominent in patients with a diagnosis of CLE who underwent surgery compared with patients who were conservatively followed up. Moreover, we observed that those who underwent surgery were diagnosed with CLE at an earlier age. In line with the literature, the pulmonary symptoms and CLE-related imaging findings in our study were reduced during conservative follow-up.

Comparison of clinical features of cystic fibrosis patients eligible but not on CFTR modulators to ineligible for CFTR modulators.

INTRODUCTION: Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) modulator drugs target the underlying defect and improve CFTR function. They are a part of standard care in many countries, but not all patients are eligible for these drugs due to age and genotype. Here, we aimed to determine the characteristics of non-eligible patients for CFTR modulators in the CF registry of Turkey (CFRT) to highlight their clinical needs. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study included CF patient data from the CFRT in 2021. The decision of eligibility for the CFTR modulator was determined according to the 'Vertex treatment-Finder' on the Vertex® website. Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients were compared between eligible (group 1) and ineligible (group 2) groups for CFTR modulators. RESULTS: Among the study population (N = 1527), 873 (57.2%) were in group 1 and 654 (42.8%) were in group 2. There was no statistical difference between groups regarding sex, meconium ileus history, diagnoses via newborn screening, FEV1 z-score, CF-associated complications, organ transplant history, and death. Patients in group 2 had a higher incidence of pancreatic insufficiency (87.7% vs. 83.2%, p = .010), lower median height z-scores (-0.87 vs. -0.55, p < .001), lower median body mass index z-scores (-0.65 vs. -0.50, p < .001), longer days receiving antibiotics due to pulmonary exacerbation (0 [interquartile range, IQR: 0-2] vs. 0 [IQR: 0-7], p = 0.001), and more non-invasive ventilation support (2.6% vs. 0.9%, p = 0.008) than patients in group 1. CONCLUSION: The ineligible group had worse clinical outcomes than the eligible group. This highlights their need for life-changing drugs to improve clinical outcomes.

Evaluation of Frequency and Characteristics of Drug Allergy in Pediatric Patients with Cystic Fibrosis.

Background: Previous studies reported that the prevalence of drug allergy is higher in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) than in the general population. It is important to exclude or confirm the drug allergy diagnosis with detailed allergic evaluation for preventing drug allergy overdiagnosis. Our study aims to determine the actual frequency of drug allergy proven by diagnostic tests in children with CF and to compare it with the control group. Methods: Patients diagnosed with CF who were followed up in the Pediatric Pulmonology Clinic were included in the study group. Children with similar gender and age characteristics who did not have any chronic diseases and who applied to the Pediatric Polyclinics were included in the control group. We reviewed the medical data of patients with CF. Also, we evaluated the parents of the patients via phone conversation and/or during the control of the outpatient clinic and questioned them in terms of drug allergy. In addition, we assessed those with suspected drug allergies in the pediatric allergy clinic for diagnostic tests and compared it to the control group. Results: CF patients (n = 44) and control group (n = 100) were included in the study. Only 1 patient (2.2%) out of the 44 patients in the study group had a suspicion of drug-related hypersensitivity history. In the control group, 1 patient had a history of rash, provocation test was performed to rule out drug hypersensitivity reaction, and it was evaluated as a negative result. Conclusions: The result of our study showed that the frequency of drug allergy in children diagnosed with CF was not different from the control group. However, it will be useful to confirm the data of pediatric patients with CF in larger groups. In the presence of suspicion of drug allergy, a diagnostic evaluation can prevent unnecessary drug allergy diagnoses.