French national diagnostic and care protocol for Kawasaki disease.

Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute vasculitis with a particular tropism for the coronary arteries. KD mainly affects male children between 6 months and 5 years of age. The diagnosis is clinical, based on the international American Heart Association criteria. It should be systematically considered in children with a fever, either of 5 days or more, or of 3 days if all other criteria are present. It is important to note that most children present with marked irritability and may have digestive signs. Although the biological inflammatory response is not specific, it is of great value for the diagnosis. Because of the difficulty of recognising incomplete or atypical forms of KD, and the need for urgent treatment, the child should be referred to a paediatric hospital as soon as the diagnosis is suspected. In the event of signs of heart failure (pallor, tachycardia, polypnea, sweating, hepatomegaly, unstable blood pressure), medical transfer to an intensive care unit (ICU) is essential. The standard treatment is an infusion of IVIG combined with aspirin (before 10 days of fever, and for a minimum of 6 weeks), which reduces the risk of coronary aneurysms. In case of coronary involvement, antiplatelet therapy can be maintained for life. In case of a giant aneurysm, anticoagulant treatment is added to the antiplatelet agent. The prognosis of KD is generally good and most children recover without sequelae. The prognosis in children with initial coronary involvement depends on the progression of the cardiac anomalies, which are monitored during careful specialised cardiological follow-up.

[Cataract surgery in children with non-infectious uveitis: Review of current practices in France]. / Chirurgie de la cataracte uvéitique non infectieuse de l'enfant : bilan des pratiques actuelles en France.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the medical-surgical management of cataract surgery in children with chronic uveitis in various French pediatric ophthalmology centers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two-part study: first, a descriptive observational segment on the evaluation of French practices. A questionnaire was sent to the various pediatric ophthalmologists in France. A second retrospective chart review, including children with non-infectious chronic uveitis who had cataract surgery in the pediatric ophthalmology department of Bordeaux University Hospital from 2008 to 2017. RESULTS: Twenty-one ophthalmologists responded to the questionnaire. Only 23.8% systematically initiated immunosuppressive drugs (aside from corticosteroids) before surgery. A total of 88.2% prescribed oral corticosteroid treatment preoperatively. Eleven surgeons administered intravenous corticosteroid boluses during the surgery, and primary lens implantation is the most common method used in 95.2%. A total of 76.2% initiated oral steroid therapy after surgery. Postoperatively, all surgeons started local therapy with high-dose corticosteroids. At one year, 100% achieved improvement of visual acuity greater than or equal to 2 lines. On our service, 10 eyes (7 children) underwent cataract surgery. Seven were treated with systemic immunosuppressive drugs (aside from corticosteroids) and 80% of cases received oral corticosteroid therapy a few days before surgery. An intravenous corticosteroid bolus was administered preoperatively in 8 cases, and primary lens implantation was performed in 100% of cases. Postoperatively, 5 children received oral corticosteroid treatment. All were treated with local high dose steroids. At one year, the mean best-corrected visual acuity was 0.18 LogMar (0-0.7, SD: 0.25). CONCLUSION: When performed with an aggressive anti-inflammatory protocol, cataract surgery leads to a good visual outcome in selected children with chronic uveitis.

[Influenza A(H1N1)v virus infection in infants less than 6 months of age in southwestern France]. / Grippe A(H1N1)v chez les nourrissons de moins de 6 mois en Aquitaine.

OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the severity of influenza A(H1N1)v clinical forms among infants less than 6 months of age. This population group was considered a high-risk group, so all people around them should be vaccinated first. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In south-western France in Aquitaine, we collected all infants less than 6 months of age during a period between the 6th September 2009 and the 6th January 2010 with influenza A(H1N1)v confirmed by PCR. For each of them, the risk factors, clinical presentation, hospitalization, and course of, the disease were identified. We compared two groups: children under 3 months and infants aged 3-6 months. RESULTS: We identified 74 infants. The average age was 3 months. Sixteen infants had at least 1 risk factor: 9 respiratory diseases (12%), 8 born prematurely (but there was no preterm baby under 33 weeks); one infant presented a cardiac disease, and another 1 epilepsy. Five infants showed no fever, 73% had cough, and 24% had gastro-intestinal symptoms. Infants under 3 months of age presented less cough (P<0.025) and fewer gastro-intestinal symptoms (P<0.01) than older ones. Only 5 infants needed oxygen and 4 presented pneumonia. Forty-eight infants were hospitalized, including 1 in intensive care, with a median duration of 3 days. Forty-five percent spent 2 days or less in the hospital. Infants under 3 months of age were more often hospitalized (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Infants under 6 months of age did not present a severe form of influenza A(H1N1)v. Infants under 3 months of age were less symptomatic than older infants and were often hospitalized, but hospital stays were short with a good outcome.

[Repeat visits in a pediatric emergency department]. / Consultations itératives aux urgences pédiatriques.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to characterize children who frequently use the pediatric emergency department. METHODS: This retrospective study selected children who consulted five times or more at the Pellegrin University Hospital emergency department in Bordeaux during the year 2006. We looked for risk factors for recurrent visits first in a comparative study and then conducted a phone survey with their GP. RESULTS: Among the 157 frequent-user children, 30.6% suffered from a chronic disease (more than half of them regularly seeing CHU doctors). For the other 59.4%, the risk factors for recurrent visits were age (children under the age of 1 year account for 35% of frequent users), distance from home to hospital (71.3% live within a 10-km perimeter), parental worry (44%), a precarious socioeconomic family situation, and being a beneficiary of the CMU (universal free health care coverage for low-income individuals) (37.6%). These children consulted more for a medical pathology (81.9%) than for a surgical pathology (18.1%) and were more often hospitalized (53.3% were hospitalized at least once). The degree to which these consultations followed an emergency situation was the same for both groups (i.e., 25% true emergencies). CONCLUSION: Approximately one-third of emergency department frequent-user children are children with a chronic disease, the others being young children, living close to the hospital, from unfavorable socioeconomic groups (using CMU health coverage), or with anxious parents.

Abdominal manifestations in childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus.

BACKGROUND: Childhood-onset lupus erythematosus is a rare disorder of unknown origin. OBJECTIVES: To describe the frequency of gastrointestinal manifestations at presentation of systemic lupus erythematosus SLE and at follow-up, and discuss the specific causes of these manifestations. METHODS: Medical records of 201 patients with childhood-onset SLE followed up in French paediatric nephrological, haematological and rheumatological centres were reviewed and abstracted for gastrointestinal manifestations. RESULTS: Gastrointestinal involvement was recorded in 39 (19%) children. The median (range) age at the time of initial gastrointestinal manifestations was 11.3 (4.5-16) years. Gastrointestinal symptoms were present at or occurred within 1 month after diagnosis in 32% patients. Abdominal pain was the most frequent symptom, present in 34 (87%) patients. It was mostly related to lupus involvement, especially ascites (n = 14) and pancreatitis (n = 12), more rarely to treatment-induced events (n = 1) or infection (n = 1) and never to events unrelated to SLE. Three children with surgical abdomen underwent a laparotomy before SLE was diagnosed, with a final diagnosis of lupus peritonitis and lupus acalculous cholecystitis. C reactive protein values were <40 mg/l in all but two patients who had surgical abdomen. Abdominal ultrasonography and computed tomography scans were abnormal in 58% and 83% of the evaluated patients, respectively. Corticosteroids, associated with intravenous cyclophospamide in eight patients, led to complete remission of gastrointestinal involvement in 30 of 31 treated patients. CONCLUSION: Gastrointestinal involvement is common in children with SLE, and is mainly due to primary lupus involvement. Corticoidsteroid treatment should be promptly considered in children with lupus presenting with abdominal pain after infectious disease; side effects of treatment and intestinal perforation have been excluded.

[Role of the excision of thoracic lesions in the treatment of metastatic malignant germinal tumors of the testis]. / La place de l'exérèse de lésions thoraciques dans le traitement des tumeurs malignes germinales métastatiques du testicule.

Among 112 cases of non-seminomatous testicular tumours treated from 1974 to 1978, there were 13 thoracotomies for the excision of thoracic lesions: in 4 cases for recurrence, in 9 for incomplete remission. In 8 cases, one of the 4 recurrences and 7 of the 9 Stages III, a cure was obtained. In all cases thoracic surgery was combined with chemotherapy including bleomycin and cis platinum and in some cases lombo-aortic lymph node dissection. The hope of cure at metastatic stages of non-seminomatous testicular tumours is 50%.