Pediatric Dog Bites: A Review of 1422 Cases Treated at a Level One Regional Pediatric Trauma Center.

BACKGROUND: Children under the age of 14 account for over 40% of the almost 900,000 annual hospital visits associated with dog bites. Care for dog bites ranges from simple wound irrigation to complex surgical reconstruction. Due to a number of factors, children frequently sustain dog bites to highly vulnerable regions, often necessitating intervention by plastic surgeons. METHODS: This retrospective study analyzed data from the 1422 pediatric patients who sustained dog bites and presented to the Le Bonheur Children's Hospital Emergency Room from January 2011 to May 2017. RESULTS: The typical pediatric dog bite case was male (63.5%), African-American (57.4%), and less than 10 years old (69.4%). The head and neck were the most commonly affected areas (64.7%). Of the head and neck regions, the cheeks and lips were the most frequently injured structures (34.5%). Hospital admission was required for 188 patients (13.2%) and operative repair was deemed necessary in 16.9% of all cases. Of the patients requiring inpatient operative repair, most (78.3%) were discharged in less than 24 hours. Operative complications occurred in 5.8% of all cases, with infections accounting for the majority (92.9%). No fatal dog bites occurred in this study. CONCLUSIONS: Age, bite location, and number of bites sustained are several factors of significance, which may aid the novice plastic surgeon in identifying, which pediatric dog bite cases will require surgical intervention.

Pre-Pectoral One-Stage Breast Reconstruction with Anterior Coverage Using Superior Anterior Biological Acellular Dermal Matrix (ADM) and Inferior Anterior Dermal Sling Support.

The use of acellular dermal matrix (ADM) implants has enhanced breast reconstruction. ADM is a biotechnologically designed human tissue of bovine or porcine origin in which tissue processing removes cellular antigens. In this case report, we describe the use of ADM in one-stage prepectoral breast reconstruction. Skin-reduction breast reconstruction with a prepectoral implant was performed. We created a combined dermal pocket using the inferior dermal flap, sutured with a patch of acellular dermal matrix to continue its extension until the upper pole, to cover the implant. This technique offers single-stage immediate reconstruction, with a decreased requirement for ADM and increased use of vascularized tissue and implant support. Additionally, in the pre-pectoral space, decreased pain postoperatively and less anatomic disruption is offered.

Submental Intubation.

Acquisition of a secure airway is an essential element of the operative management of maxillofacial trauma. Of the options available, submental intubation is an alternative to tracheostomy. The access should be accomplished via a midline approach rather than lateral through the mylohyoid, an armored endotracheal tube utilized to prevent kinking, and the passage facilitated by use of wound dilators obtained from a percutaneous tracheostomy set.

Low-dose steroid alters in vivo endotoxin-induced systemic inflammation but does not influence autonomic dysfunction.

Severe injury and infection are associated with autonomic dysfunction. Diminished heart rate variability (HRV) is also observed as a component of autonomic dysfunction and is induced by endotoxin administration to healthy subjects. It is established that low-dose glucocorticoid administration diminishes the systemic inflammatory manifestations of endotoxinemia but the influence of this anti-inflammatory intervention on overall autonomic dysfunction and HRV responses to endotoxin is unknown. This study was designed to assess the influence of a low-dose hydrocortisone infusion upon endotoxin-elicited systemic inflammatory responses including phenotypic features, cytokine production, and parameters of HRV. Of 19 subjects studied, nine received a continuous infusion of hydrocortisone (3 microg/kg/min continuously over 6 h) prior to intravenous administration of Escherichia coli endotoxin (2 ng/kg, CC-RE, Lot #2) while 10 healthy subjects received only the endotoxin after a 6-h period of saline control infusion. Serial determinations of vital signs, heart rate variability assessments, and cytokine levels were obtained over the subsequent 24 h. Prior cortisol infusion diminished the peak TNF-alpha (P < 0.01) and IL-6 (P < 0.0001) responses after endotoxin challenge, as compared to saline infusion controls and diminished the peak core temperature response to endotoxin (P < 0.01). In contrast to the influence of cortisol on the above parameters of systemic inflammation, the significant endotoxin-induced decreases in HRV time and frequency domains were not influenced by prior hydrocortisone treatment. Hence, alterations in autonomic dysfunction occur despite hydrocortisone attenuation of other traditional systemic manifestations of endotoxinemia. The maintenance or restoration of autonomic balance is not influenced by glucocorticoid administration.

Polymorphisms of heat shock protein-70 (HSPA1B and HSPA1L loci) do not influence infection or outcome risk in critically ill surgical patients.

Heat shock proteins (HSP) are induced in various stress conditions and have many cytoprotective effects, including formation of protein complexes for antigen presentation, stabilizing intracellular proteins, and facilitating protein folding. The HSP-70 gene exhibits polymorphisms at the HSPA1B and HSPA1L loci that reportedly influence cytokine levels and clinical outcomes in critically ill patients. These HSP variations also have been linked to TNF-beta polymorphisms associated with poor outcomes. This study further evaluated outcomes and risk of infection of HSP polymorphisms in critically ill patients. Seventy-six consecutive surgical intensive care unit uninfected patients with established systemic inflammatory response features were prospectively enrolled. Genomic DNA was isolated from whole blood samples and specific fragments, including the relevant polymorphic sites, were amplified by PCR, and restriction digestions were performed. Genotypes were determined by electrophoresis and all were confirmed by direct sequencing. Plasma cytokine levels for TNF-alpha were assayed in a subset of patients by enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay. None of the HSP alleles bore a significant relationship to nosocomial infection rates, organ specific dysfunctions, or mortality. No linkage of HSP genotype to common TNF-alpha or TNF-beta genotypes could be demonstrated, although the HSPA1L CT polymorphism was associated with higher levels of TNF-alpha compared with the TT genotype. These data suggest that polymorphisms of the HSPA1L or HSPA1B loci do not influence infection or other highly morbid outcomes in surgical intensive care unit patients.

Increasing prevalence of gastroschisis repairs in the United States: 1996-2003.

PURPOSE: Local and state registries have shown recent increases in the prevalence of gastroschisis in the United States and abroad. The purpose of this study was to use a nationally representative database to identify national trends in the prevalence of gastroschisis repairs. METHODS: Records of infants undergoing gastroschisis repair were identified in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample from 1996 to 2003. Birth data were obtained from the National Center for Health Statistics and used to calculate the rate of procedures/live births stratified by US census region. Survey statistics were used to account for the sampling design of the Nationwide Inpatient Sample database. RESULTS: Between 1996 and 2003, a total of 9459 gastroschisis repairs were performed in the United States (3 procedures for every 10,000 births). A significant increase in the population-based rate of these procedures was observed in each census regions and nationwide. A twofold higher procedure rate was observed in 2003 than in 1996 (rate ratio, 2.0; 95% confidence interval, 1.1-2.9; P < .001). No significant change in unadjusted hospital mortality was observed regionally or nationally. CONCLUSIONS: The population-based rate of gastroschisis repairs significantly increased regionally and nationwide between 1996 and 2003, paralleling recent trends described at the local and state level.

Evaluation of a Bayesian decision network for diagnosing pyloric stenosis.

PURPOSE: Most infants undergoing an ultrasound to rule out pyloric stenosis will have a negative study, suggesting the low accuracy of clinical assessment. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using a Bayesian network to improve the accuracy of diagnosing pyloric stenosis. METHODS: Records of 118 infants undergoing an ultrasound to rule out pyloric stenosis were reviewed. Data from 88 (75%) infants were used to train a Bayesian decision network that predicted the probability of pyloric stenosis using risk factors, signs, and symptoms of the disease. The emergency department records of the remaining 28 (25%) infants were used to test the network. Two groups of pediatric surgeons and pediatric emergency medicine physicians were asked to predict the probability of pyloric stenosis in the testing set: (1) physicians using the network and (2) physicians using only emergency department records. Accuracy was evaluated using area under the ROC curve (discrimination) and Hosmer-Lemeshow (H-L) c-statistic (calibration). RESULTS: Physicians using the Bayesian decision network better predicted the probability of pyloric stenosis among infants in the testing set than those not using the network (ROC 0.973 vs 0.882; H-L c-statistic 3.9 [P > .05] vs 24.3 [P < .05]). Physicians using the network would have ordered 22% fewer ultrasounds and missed no cases of pyloric stenosis. CONCLUSIONS: The use of a Bayesian decision network may improve the accuracy of physicians diagnosing infants with possible pyloric stenosis. Use of this decision tool may safely reduce the need for imaging among infants with suspected pyloric stenosis.