Primary fascial closure versus staged closure with silo in patients with gastroschisis: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Gastroschisis is the most common congenital abdominal wall defect. Despite advances in the surgical closure of gastroschisis, consensus is lacking as to which method results in the best patient outcomes. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to compare short-term outcomes associated with primary fascial closure and staged repair with a silo in patients with gastroschisis. METHODS: We reviewed Medline citations, as well as the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, between January 1, 1996 and June 1, 2012. Articles were identified using the search term "gastroschisis" and [("treatment outcome" or "prognosis") or randomized controlled trials]. Case reports, reviews, letters, abstracts only, non-English abstracts, and studies that did not address at least one of the outcomes of interest were excluded from the meta-analysis. Two independent reviewers identified relevant articles for final inclusion. A standard data collection form created by the authors was used to extract study information, including study design, patient characteristics, and reported patient outcomes. The data were analyzed using standard meta-analytic techniques. RESULTS: Twenty studies were included in the meta-analysis. In the five studies that selected closure method randomly or as a temporal shift in practice, silo was associated with better outcomes, with a significant reduction in ventilator days (p<0.0001), time to first feed (p=0.04), and infection rates (p=0.03). When all studies were included, primary closure was associated with improved outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Silo closure is associated with better clinical outcomes in the studies with the least selection bias. Larger prospective studies are needed to definitively determine the best closure technique.

Multicenter comparative study of conventional mechanical gas ventilation to tidal liquid ventilation in oleic acid injured sheep.

We performed a multicenter study to test the hypothesis that tidal liquid ventilation (TLV) would improve cardiopulmonary, lung histomorphological, and inflammatory profiles compared with conventional mechanical gas ventilation (CMV). Sheep were studied using the same volume-controlled, pressure-limited ventilator systems, protocols, and treatment strategies in three independent laboratories. Following baseline measurements, oleic acid lung injury was induced and animals were randomized to 4 hours of CMV or TLV targeted to "best PaO2" and PaCO2 35 to 60 mm Hg. The following were significantly higher (p < 0.01) during TLV than CMV: PaO2, venous oxygen saturation, respiratory compliance, cardiac output, stroke volume, oxygen delivery, ventilatory efficiency index; alveolar area, lung % gas exchange space, and expansion index. The following were lower (p < 0.01) during TLV compared with CMV: inspiratory and expiratory pause pressures, mean airway pressure, minute ventilation, physiologic shunt, plasma lactate, lung interleukin-6, interleukin-8, myeloperoxidase, and composite total injury score. No significant laboratories by treatment group interactions were found. In summary, TLV resulted in improved cardiopulmonary physiology at lower ventilatory requirements with more favorable histological and inflammatory profiles than CMV. As such, TLV offers a feasible ventilatory alternative as a lung protective strategy in this model of acute lung injury.

Teaching professionalism to residents.

The need to teach professionalism during residency has been affirmed by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, which will require documentation of education and evaluation of professionalism by 2007. Recently the American Academy of Pediatrics has proposed the following components of professionalism be taught and measured: honesty/integrity, reliability/responsibility, respect for others, compassion/empathy, self-improvement, self-awareness/knowledge of limits, communication/collaboration, and altruism/advocacy. The authors describe a curriculum for introducing the above principles of professionalism into a pediatrics residency that could serve as a model for other programs. The curriculum is taught at an annual five-day retreat for interns, with 11 mandatory sessions devoted to addressing key professionalism issues. The authors also explain how the retreat is evaluated and how the retreat's topics are revisited during the residency, and discuss general issues of teaching and evaluating professionalism.