Nutrition and outcomes in venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation: An observational cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Overfeeding and underfeeding are associated with negative outcomes during critical illness. The purpose of this retrospective study was to assess the association between nutrition intake and outcomes for patients receiving venovenous (VV) extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). METHODS: Adults who received VV ECMO August 2017 to June 2020 were screened. Patients with <3 ECMO nutrition support days were excluded. Age, sex, height, weight, ideal body weight (IBW), body mass index, sequential organ failure assessment score, respiratory ECMO survival prediction score, energy, and protein goals were collected. All nutrition intake was collected for the first 14 days of ECMO or until death, decannulation, or oral diet initiation. Outcomes analyzed included mortality and VV ECMO duration. The relationship between nutrition delivery and outcomes was tested with multivariate analysis. Univariate analyses were conducted on obese and nonobese subgroups. RESULTS: A total of 2044 nutrition days in 178 patients were analyzed. The median estimated needs were 24 (interquartile range: 22.3-28.3) kcal/kg/day and 2.25 (interquartile range: 2.25-2.77) g/kg/day of protein using IBW in patients with obesity and actual weight in patients without obesity. Patients received 83% of energy and 63.3% of protein targets. Patients with obesity who received ≥2 g/kg IBW of protein had a significantly shorter ECMO duration (P = 0.037). Increased protein intake was independently associated with a reduced risk of death (odds ratio: 0.06; 95% confidence interval: 0.01-0.43). CONCLUSION: Higher protein intake was associated with reduced mortality. Optimal energy targets for patients receiving ECMO are currently unknown and warrant further study.

Treatment Guideline Nonadherence Pretransport Associated With Need for Higher Level of Care in Children Transferred to a Pediatric Tertiary Care Center for Status Epilepticus.

OBJECTIVES: We sought to investigate the association between adherence to the American Epilepsy Society (AES) 2016 guidelines for management of convulsive status epilepticus (SE) and clinical outcomes among children requiring interhospital transport for SE. We hypothesized that pretransport guideline nonadherence would be associated with needing higher level of care posttransfer. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study of children aged 30 days to 18 years transferred to our pediatric tertiary center from 2017 to 2019 for management of SE. Their care episodes were classified as 2016 American Epilepsy Society guideline adherent or nonadherent. There were 40 referring hospitals represented in this cohort. RESULTS: Of 260 care episodes, 55 (21%) were guideline adherent, 184 (71%) were guideline nonadherent, and 21 (8%) had insufficient data to determine guideline adherence. Compared with the adherent group, patients in the nonadherent care group had longer hospitalizations (32 hours [17-68] vs 21 hours [7-48], P = 0.006), were more likely to require intensive care unit admission (47% vs 31%), and less likely to be discharged home from the emergency department (16% vs 35%; χ 2 test, P = 0.01). Intubation rates did not differ significantly between groups (25% vs 18%, P = 0.37). When we fit a multivariable model to adjust for confounding variables, guideline nonadherence was associated with need for higher level of care (odds ratio, 2.04; 95% confidence interval, 1.04-3.99). Treatment guideline adherence did not improve over the 3-year study period (2017: 22%, 2018: 19%, 2019: 29% [χ 2 test for differences between any 2 years, P = 0.295]). CONCLUSIONS: Guideline nonadherence pretransport was associated with longer hospitalizations and need for higher level of care among children transferred for SE at our institution. These findings suggest a need to improve SE guideline adherence through multifaceted quality improvement efforts targeting both the prehospital and community hospital settings.

Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Outcomes in Children With Preexisting Neurologic Disorders or Neurofunctional Disability.

OBJECTIVE: Patient selection for pediatric extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support has broadened over the years to include children with pre-existing neurologic morbidities. We aimed to determine the prevalence and nature of pre-ECMO neurologic disorders or disability and investigate the association between pre-ECMO neurologic disorders or disability and mortality and unfavorable neurologic outcome. DESIGN: Multicenter retrospective observational cohort study. SETTING: Eight hospitals reporting to the Pediatric ECMO Outcomes Registry between October 2011 and June 2019. PATIENTS: Children younger than 18 years supported with venoarterial or venovenous ECMO. INTERVENTIONS: The primary exposure was presence of pre-ECMO neurologic disorders or moderate-to-severe disability, defined as Pediatric Cerebral Performance Category (PCPC) or Pediatric Overall Performance Category (POPC) 3-5. The primary outcome was unfavorable outcome at hospital discharge, defined as in-hospital mortality or survival with moderate-to-severe disability (discharge PCPC 3-5 with deterioration from baseline). MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Of 598 children included in the final cohort, 68 of 598 (11%) had a pre-ECMO neurologic disorder, 70 of 595 (12%) had a baseline PCPC 3-5, and 189 of 592 (32%) had a baseline POPC 3-5. The primary outcome of in-hospital mortality ( n = 267) or survival with PCPC 3-5 with deterioration from baseline ( n = 39) was observed in 306 of 598 (51%). Overall, one or more pre-ECMO neurologic disorders or disability were present in 226 of 598 children (38%) but, after adjustment for age, sex, diagnostic category, pre-ECMO cardiac arrest, and ECMO mode, were not independently associated with increased odds of unfavorable outcome (unadjusted odds ratio [OR], 1.34; 95% CI, 1.07-1.69; multivariable adjusted OR, 1.30; 95% CI, 0.92-1.82). CONCLUSIONS: In this exploratory study using a multicenter pediatric ECMO registry, more than one third of children requiring ECMO support had pre-ECMO neurologic disorders or disability. However, pre-existing morbidities were not independently associated with mortality or unfavorable neurologic outcomes at hospital discharge after adjustment for diagnostic category and other covariates.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in the pediatric population - who should go on, and who should not.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The role of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a method of providing cardiorespiratory support in instances of cardiac or respiratory failure, in neonates and children continues to expand and evolve. This review details the current landscape of ECMO as it applies to neonates and children. RECENT FINDINGS: Specifically, this review provides the most recent evidence for which patients should be considered for the various forms of ECMO including venovenous ECMO, venoarterial-ECMO, and extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Specific topics to be discussed include indications and contraindications for the different types of ECMO in neonates and children, anticoagulation strategies and ways to monitor end-organ function, outcomes specific to the different types and populations with a focus on meaningful survival to discharge and neurologic outcomes, and consideration of special populations such as low birth weight infants, traumatically injured patients, and children who received recent bone marrow transplants. This review also discusses still unanswered questions surrounding the most appropriate use of ECMO as its role and applications continue to evolve. SUMMARY: With rapidly increasing utilization of ECMO, neonatologists and pediatricians should be aware of the most recent evidence guiding its indications, applications, and limitations.

Retention and use of newborn resuscitation skills following a series of helping babies breathe trainings for midwives in rural Ghana.

BACKGROUND: The Helping Babies Breathe (HBB) program teaches basic newborn resuscitation techniques to birth attendants in low-resource settings. Previous studies have demonstrated a decrease in mortality following training, mostly in large hospitals. However, low-volume clinics in rural regions with no physician immediately available likely experience a greater relative burden of newborn mortality. This study aimed to determine the impact of HBB trainings provided to rural Ghanaian midwives on their skills retention and on first 24 hour mortality of the newborns they serve. METHODS: American Acadamy of Paediatrics (AAP)-trained Master Trainers conducted two 2-day HBB trainings and 2-day refresher courses one year later for 48 midwives from Ghanaian rural health clinics. Trainee skills were evaluated by Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) at three time points: immediately after training, four months after training, and four months after the refresher. Midwives recorded the single highest level of resuscitation performed on each newborn delivered for one year. RESULTS: 48 midwives attended the two trainings, 32 recorded data from 2,383 deliveries, and 13 completed OSCE simulations at all three time points. The midwives' OSCE scores decreased from immediately after training (94.9%) to four months later (81.2%, p < 0.00001). However, four months following the refresher course, scores improved to the same high level attained initially (92.7%, p = 0.0013). 5.0% of neonates required bag-mask ventilation and 0.71% did not survive, compared with a nationwide first 24 hour mortality estimate of 1.7%. CONCLUSIONS: The midwives' performance on the simulation exercise indicates that an in-depth refresher course provided one year after the initial training likely slows the decay in skills that occurs after initial training. Our finding that 5.0% of newborns required bag-mask ventilation is consistent with global estimates. Our observed first 24 hour mortality rate of 0.71% is lower than nationwide estimates, indicating the training likely prevented deaths due to birth asphyxia.

An athletic adolescent girl with proteinuria and hypertension.

An 18-year-old athletic adolescent presents with hypertension found during a routine screening. Her prior history includes familial hyperlipidemia. Hypertension in the adolescent is classified based on percentiles for age, sex, and height. The most common secondary cause of hypertension in the pediatric and adolescent patient is renal disease. This patient was found to have nephrotic syndrome and because of her age, a renal biopsy was required to make the diagnosis and to direct subsequent treatment plans. She was diagnosed with C3 glomerulopathy, which is the result of dysregulation and uncontrolled activation of the alternative complement pathway; new therapies are emerging for this disease. In this case, we review the diagnosis and initial assessment of hypertension in the pediatric patient, and the causes of nephrotic syndrome with a focus on C3 glomerulopathy.

Estimating the impact of off-balancing forces upon cardiopulmonary resuscitation during ambulance transport.

INTRODUCTION: Survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OOH-CA) remains poor, especially when patients are transported with CPR in progress. Previous investigations suggest that CPR quality erodes during transport due to the austere environment. We sought to determine how frequently ambulance personnel are exposed to off-balancing forces during transport of OOH-CA patients and to estimate the potential impact on CPR and coronary perfusion pressure (CPP). METHODS: An onboard monitoring system was utilized to record acceleration data during the transport of 50 OOH-CA patients. Acceleration vectors were calculated for every second of drive time (speed >0 m/s). A model was constructed to estimate the potential impact of these vectors upon CPR and CPP. These data were then compared to a case-control cohort of 102 matched non-urgent transports. RESULTS: A total of 5.8h of drive time was analyzed in the cardiac arrest cohort. Mean transport time was 8 min 53 s with a mean drive time of 6 min 58 s. Critical acceleration threshold was exceeded 60% of transport time (202.42 min, mean 4.05 min/transport) yielding a potential hands-off ratio of 0.42 with a CPP<15 mmHg 62% of drive time. Ambulance speed was inversely related to the magnitude of off-balancing forces. Comparison to 14.1h of control cohort yielded similar off-balancing forces and relationships despite lower speeds and no "lights and siren" use. CONCLUSION: Critical acceleration forces occur frequently during transport of OOH-CA patients and may directly effect CPR quality and thereby CPP. These force vectors are stronger and more frequent at slower speeds, comprising the majority of ambulance drive time. Reducing speed or transporting OOH-CA patients without lights and sirens does little to mitigate these forces.

The impact of prehospital activation of the cardiac catheterization team on time to treatment for patients presenting with ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to evaluate the accuracy of emergency medical services (EMS) activation of the cardiac catheterization laboratory (CCL) for patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and its impact on treatment intervals from dispatch to reperfusion. METHODS: We conducted a before-and-after cohort study of patients presenting via EMS with prehospital electrocardiogram findings consistent with STEMI. Before August 20, 2007, percutaneous coronary intervention was initiated after patient arrival. Afterward, EMS providers could activate the CCL if the prehospital electrocardiogram automated interpretation indicated STEMI. All interval times from EMS dispatch to percutaneous coronary intervention were measured via synchronized timepieces. RESULTS: A total of 53 patients, 14 before and 39 after prehospital activation, were included. Emergency medical services CCL activation was 79.6% sensitive (95% confidence interval [CI], 65.2%-89.3%) and 99.7% specific (95% CI, 99.1%-99.9%). Mean door-to-hospital electrocardiogram and mean CCL-to-reperfusion times were unaffected by the intervention. Prehospital activation of the CCL significantly improved mean door-to-balloon (D2B) time by 18.2 minutes (95% CI, 7.69-28.71 minutes; P = .0029) and door-to-CCL by 14.8 minutes (95% CI, 6.20-23.39 minutes; P = .0024). Improvements in D2B were independent of presentation during peak hours (F ratio = 17.02, P < .0001). There were significant time savings reflected in all EMS intervals: 20.7 minutes (95% CI, 9.1-32.3 minutes; P = .0015) in mean dispatch-to-reperfusion time, 22.2 minutes (95% CI, 11.45-32.95 minutes; P = .0003) in mean first medical contact-to-reperfusion time, and 20 minutes (95% CI, 10.95-29.05 minutes; P = .0001) in recognition-to-reperfusion time. CONCLUSIONS: Emergency medical service providers can appropriately activate the CCL for patients with STEMI before emergency department arrival, significantly reducing mean D2B time. Significant reduction is demonstrated throughout EMS intervals.