Complication risk factors related to central venous catheter in pediatric.

BACKGROUND: A prospective epidemiological study was carried out in the pediatric intensive care unit (ICU), at the Mayotte Hospital Center (MHC). The purpose of the study was to identify and to evaluate complications risk factors related to central venous catheterization. Improving side effects prevention and patients care was the second goal. METHOD: Data collection took place over a period of 10 months. The central approaches followed in the study were femoral, jugular and subclavian. Since the database is composed of qualitative and quantitative variables, the Chi2 test has been used to measure the association between two variables. RESULTS: The study was carried out on 101 patients. Five infectious risk factors on the 10 variables evaluated have been significantly highlighted: the number of punctures, the number of repair of the dressing, the duration of the catheterization, the exposure time and the parenteral nutrition administration. CONCLUSIONS: Evaluation of practices through audits, an appropriate training for the staff, the update and the standardization of procedures, development of standardized assembly of the devices should lower the incidence of complications related to the venous approach.

Anti-A2 and anti-A1 domain antibodies are potential predictors of immune tolerance induction outcome in children with hemophilia A.

BACKGROUND: Hemophilia A (HA) is a congenital bleeding disorder resulting from factor VIII deficiency. The most serious complication of HA management is the appearance of inhibitory antibodies (Abs) against injected FVIII concentrates. To eradicate inhibitors, immune tolerance induction (ITI) is usually attempted, but it fails in up to 30% of cases. Currently, no undisputed predictive marker of ITI outcome is available to facilitate the clinical decision. OBJECTIVES: To identify predictive markers of ITI efficacy. METHODS: The isotypic and epitopic repertoires of inhibitory Abs were analyzed in plasma samples collected before ITI initiation from 15 children with severe HA and high-titer inhibitors, and their levels were compared in the two outcome groups (ITI success [n = 7] and ITI failure [n = 8]). The predictive value of these candidate biomarkers and of the currently used indicators (inhibitor titer and age at ITI initiation, highest inhibitor titer before ITI, and interval between inhibitor diagnosis and ITI initiation) was then compared by statistical analysis (Wilcoxon test and receiver receiver operating characteristic [ROC] curve analysis). RESULTS: Whereas current indicators seemed to fail in discriminating patients in the two outcome groups (ITI success or failure), anti-A1 and anti-A2 Ab levels before ITI initiation appeared to be good potential predictive markers of ITI outcome (P < 0.018). ROC analysis showed that anti-A1 and anti-A2 Abs were the best at discriminating between outcome groups (area under the ROC curve of > 0.875). CONCLUSION: Anti-A1 and anti-A2 Abs could represent new promising tools for the development of ITI outcome prediction tests for children with severe HA.

The IgG autoimmune response in postpartum acquired hemophilia A targets mainly the A1a1 domain of FVIII.

BACKGROUND: Acquired hemophilia A (AHA) is a severe life-threatening autoimmune disease due to the development of autoantibodies that neutralize the procoagulant activity of factor VIII (FVIII). In rare cases, AHA occurs in the postpartum period as a serious complication of an otherwise normal pregnancy and delivery. Due to its rarity, little is known about the features of the antibody response to FVIII in AHA. OBJECTIVES: Our study wanted to (i) determine the epitope specificity and the immunoglobulin (Ig) subclasses of anti-FVIII autoantibodies in plasma samples from a large cohort of AHA patients, and (ii) compare the epitope specificity of anti-FVIII autoantibodies in plasma samples from postpartum AHA and other AHA patients. PATIENTS/METHODS: Seventy-three plasma samples from patients with postpartum AHA (n = 10) or associated with malignancies (n = 16) or autoimmune diseases (n = 11) or without underlying disease (n = 36) were analyzed with three multiplexed assays. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed a stronger response against the A1a1-A2a2-B fragments of FVIII and more specifically against the A1a1 domain in patients with postpartum AHA than in the other AHA groups (P < 0.01). Moreover, although IgG4 was the predominant IgG subclass in all groups, anti-A1a1-A2a2-B and anti-A1a1 domain autoantibodies of the IgG(1) and IgG3 subclasses were more frequently detected in postpartum AHA than in the other AHA groups. These findings support the involvement of the Th1-driven response in the generation of autoantibodies in women with postpartum AHA compared with the other groups of AHA patients in whom production of Th2-driven IgG4 was predominant.