Prospective study of enhanced recovery after surgery protocol in children undergoing reconstructive operations.

BACKGROUND: Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocol is a set of peri-operative strategies to increase speed of recovery. ERAS is well established in adults but has not been well studied in children. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the current study was to establish the safety and efficacy of an ERAS protocol in pediatric urology patients undergoing reconstructive operations. It was hypothesized that ERAS would reduce length of stay and decrease complications when compared with historical controls. STUDY DESIGN: Institutional Review Board approval was obtained to prospectively enroll patients aged <18 years if they had undergone urologic reconstruction that included a bowel anastomosis. ERAS included: no bowel preparation, administration of pre-operative oral carbohydrate liquid, avoidance of opioids, regional anesthesia, laparoscopy when feasible, no postoperative nasogastric tube, early feeding, and early removal of intravenous fluids (IVF). Recent (2009-2014) historical controls were propensity matched in a 2:1 ratio on age, sex, ventriculoperitoneal shunt status and whether the patient was undergoing bladder augmentation. Outcomes were protocol adherence, length of stay (LOS), emergency department (ED) visits, re-admission within 30 days, re-operations and adverse events occurring within 90 days of surgery. RESULTS: A total of 26 historical and 13 ERAS patients were included. Median ages were 10.4 (IQR 8.0-12.4) and 9.9 years (IQR 9.1-11), respectively (P = 0.94) (see Summary Table). There were no significant between-group differences in prior abdominal surgery (38% vs 62%), rate of augmentation (88% vs 92%) or primary diagnosis of spina bifida (both 62%). ERAS significantly improved use of pre-operative liquid load (P < 0.001), avoidance of opioids (P = 0.046), early discontinuation of IVF (P < 0.001), and early feeding (P < 0.001). Protocol adherence improved from 8/16 (IQR 4-9) historically to 12/16 (IQR 11-12) after implementation of ERAS. LOS decreased from 8 days to 5.7 days (P = 0.520). Complications of any grade per patient decreased from 2.1 to 1.3 (OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.51-0.97). There were fewer complications per patient across all grades with ERAS. No differences were seen in emergency department (ED) visits, re-admissions and re-operations. DISCUSSION: Implementation improved consistency of care delivered. Tenets of ERAS that appeared to drive improvements included maintenance of euvolemia through avoidance of excess fluids, multimodal analgesia, and early feeding. CONCLUSION: ERAS decreased length of stay and 90-day complications after pediatric reconstructive surgery without increased re-admissions, re-operations or ED visits. A multicenter study will be required to confirm the potential benefits of adopting ERAS.

Continuous local anesthetic infusion for children with spina bifida undergoing major reconstruction of the lower urinary tract.

OBJECTIVE: While many options for postoperative analgesia are available to the general patient population, choices are limited for individuals with spinal dysraphism. We hypothesized that the use of continuous local anesthetic infusion following major reconstruction of the lower urinary tract in children with spina bifida would significantly decrease need for opiate use, while maintaining adequate pain control. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Children with spina bifida who underwent major reconstruction of the lower urinary tract at Children's Hospital Colorado were identified from January, 2003 through January, 2013 were identified. In addition to enterocycstoplasty, procedures included Mitrofanoff or Monti creation, bladder neck reconstruction, and Malone antegrade continence enema. Patients who had local anesthetic infusion catheters placed in the incision were compared to patients without catheters. Opioid consumption was calculated by conversion of any opiates into IV morphine (mg/kg) on postoperative days (POD) 0-3. Pain was assessed by mean and maximum FLACC scores on POD 0-2. Use of antiemetic medications and wound related complications were recorded as secondary metrics. Patients with other etiologies for neurogenic bladder and bowel were excluded. Patients whose pain was assessed by other assessment scales were excluded. Chi-squared analysis was used for nominal variables, students t-test was used for analysis of continuous variables. P values <0.05 were considered significant. RESULTS: 36 myelomeningocele patients who underwent primary enterocystoplasty met the inclusion criteria. All surgeries were open procedures. 24 patients in the infusion catheter group were compared to 12 patients who received primary analgesia by PCA or IV narcotics. There were no significant differences in age, sex, weight or spinal defect level between the two groups. Opioid use, as defined by IV morphine equivalents, was significantly less in the wound soaker group on all PODs. The total opioid use after POD #0-3 was 0.55 mg/kg in the wound soaker group vs 1.66 mg/kg in the IV/PCA group (p = 0.03). FLACC scores were uniformly lower in the wound soaker group, but were not significantly different. There was a significant decrease in need for postoperative antiemetic use in the wound soaker group (36.5% vs 83.3%, p = 0.014). Complications and hospital stay were similar between both groups. DISCUSSION: The advantage of local anesthesia is the reduction of systemic opioids and their subsequent adverse side effects. Our results suggest that in children with spina bifida undergoing major reconstruction of the lower urinary tract narcotic consumption is approximately 1/3 when continuous local anesthetic catheters are placed into the incision. The need for antiemetic medication is also significantly less. While this technique has been validated in a variety of other settings, it may be most beneficial in patients with myelomeningocele or other spinal dysraphism where epidural placement is generally contraindicated and narcotic use may have a particularly deleterious effect on preexisting neurogenic bowel function. The primary limitation of our study is that it is a retrospective review of a limited number of patients. Patients were not randomized and subject to other management differences that could have influenced our results in unknown ways. CONCLUSIONS: Continuous local anesthetic catheters are a simple, effective alternative strategy to provide postoperative analgesia while reducing systemic opiate use and associated adverse effects.

How do I do it: Continuous local anesthetic infusion for children with spinal dysraphism undergoing major reconstruction of the lower urinary tract.

Postoperative pain control is a fundamental aspect of contemporary pediatric surgery. While many options for analgesia are available to the general patient population, choices are limited for individuals with spinal dysraphism who undergo major urologic procedures. Continuous infusion of local anesthetics has been shown to improve postoperative pain scores and decreases the need for systemic analgesia. We present our technique for continuous local anesthetic infusion utilizing readily available equipment with limited additional cost.

The New Zealand rugby injury and performance project. VI. A prospective cohort study of risk factors for injury in rugby union football.

OBJECTIVES: Although the nature of rugby injury has been well documented, little is known about key risk factors. A prospective cohort study was undertaken to examine the association between potential risk factors and injury risk, measured both as an injury incidence rate and as a proportion of the playing season missed. The latter measure incorporates a measure of injury severity. METHODS: A cohort of 258 male players (mean (SD) age 20.6 (3.7) years) were followed through a full competitive season. At a preseason assessment, basic characteristics, health and lifestyle patterns, playing experience, injury experience, training patterns, and anthropometric characteristics were recorded, and then a battery of fitness tests were carried out. RESULTS: A multiple regression model identified grade and previous injury experience as risk factors for in season injury, measured as an injury incidence rate. A second model identified previous injury experience, hours of strenuous physical activity a week, playing position, cigarette smoking status, body mass index, years of rugby participation, stress, aerobic and anaerobic performance, and number of push ups as risk factors for in season injury, measured as proportion of season missed. CONCLUSIONS: The findings emphasise the importance of previous injury as a predictor of injury incidence and of missing play. They also show the importance of considering both the incidence rate and severity of injury when identifying risk factors for injury in sport.

Some characteristics of ethylene production in peach (Prunus persica L.) seeds.

The seed of peach fruits develop the capacity to produce ethylene with a lag phase of about 1 h after excision. The site of ethylene synthesis is in the seed coat and rates as high as 6,000 µl kg(-1) h(-1) were recorded. Ethylene production was reduced to less than 1% of the control by 10 µg/ml cycloheximide. Although the tissue had only a small methionine pool, supplying the seed with exogenous methionine did not influence ethylene production at any stage of seed development. Label from [U-(14)C]methionine was readily incorporated into ethylene.