Outcomes of Endovascular and Open Surgical Therapy for Popliteal Artery Injury.

BACKGROUND: Popliteal arterial injury carries an appreciable risk of limb loss and, despite advances in stent and stent-graft technology, endovascular therapy for popliteal arterial trauma is infrequently used when compared with traditional open repair. Thus, this study aims to assess outcomes of endovascular management (EM) with open surgery (OS) as a historical reference. METHODS: An electronic search was performed (from January 2010 until June 2023) using multiple databases. Initial records were screened against eligibility criteria. Next, the full-text manuscript of articles that passed the title and abstract assessment was reviewed for relevancy of data points. Data from articles passing the inclusion criteria were extracted and tabulated. Comparative analysis was completed by performing chi-square tests and 2-sampled t-tests (Welch's). RESULTS: The 24 selected studies described 864 patients (96 EM; 768 OS). In the endovascular group, patients underwent procedures primarily for blunt trauma using covered, self-expanding stents, resulting in universal technical success and patency. Patients had an average length of stay of 7.99 ± 7.5 days and follow-up time of 33.0 ± 7.0 months, with 21% undergoing fasciotomies, 6% undergoing amputation, and 4% having pseudoaneurysms. Patients in the OS group were evenly divided between blunt and penetrating trauma, chiefly undergoing vein graft interposition and exhibiting fasciotomy and amputation rates of 66% and 24%, respectively. Patients had an average length of stay of 5.66 ± 4.6 days and a 96% survival rate at discharge. CONCLUSIONS: The current evidence sheds light on the nature of treatment offered by EM and OS treatment and suggests EM is associated with several important positive outcomes. Although it is difficult to directly compare endovascular and open surgical techniques, the data with respect to open surgical management of popliteal artery trauma can still provide a powerful frame of reference for the outcomes of EM to date. However, this claim is weak due to the little published data for EM of popliteal trauma, publication bias accompanying the published studies, and general, selection bias. Additional prospective data are necessary to define patients who specifically benefit from endovascular repair.

Assessment of Disaster Preparedness at the Household Level in a Pediatric Cardiology Clinic Population.

Natural and human-provoked disasters pose serious health risks to children, particularly children and youth with special healthcare needs, including many cardiology patients. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) provides preparedness recommendations for families, but little is known about recommendation adherence. Caregivers of children seen in a pediatric cardiology clinic network were recruited to complete an electronic survey. Participants self-reported child medical history and their household's implementation of AAP recommended disaster preparedness items. Families received a link to AAP resources and a child ID card. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics with Fisher's exact and Wilcoxon rank sum tests. 320 caregivers participated in the study, of whom 124 (38.8%) indicated that their child has a diagnosed cardiac condition, and 150 (46.9%) indicated that their child had special healthcare needs. The average preparedness item completion rate was 70.7% for household preparedness, 40.1% for reunification preparedness, and 26.3% for community preparedness. Households of children with medical needs had similar rates of preparedness compared to overall rates. Of all respondents, 27.8% previously received disaster preparedness resources, 67.7% would like resources on discussing disaster preparedness, and 93.0% intend to talk with their household about disaster preparedness after completing the survey. These results demonstrate a gap between AAP recommendations and household-level disaster preparedness, including patients with cardiac conditions and those with special healthcare needs. Families expressed that they were interested in getting resources for disaster preparedness. Pediatric cardiologists may consider asking about disaster preparedness and providing disaster preparedness resources tailored to the needs of their patients.