Efficacy of paravertebral block in "Fast-tracking" pediatric cardiac surgery - Experiences from a tertiary care center.

Introduction: Fast tracking plays a crucial role in reducing perioperative morbidity and financial burden by facilitating early extubation and discharge from hospital. Paravertebral block (PVB) is becoming more popular in paediatric surgeries as an alternative to epidural and caudal analgesia. There is scarcity of data regarding the efficacy and safety of PVB in paediatric cardiac surgery. Methods: We performed a review of records of paediatric cardiac patients who underwent cardiac surgery under general anaesthesia with single shot PVB and compared the analgesia and postoperative outcomes with matched historical controls who underwent cardiac surgery with same anaesthesia protocol without PVB. Results: The data from 200 children were analysed. 100 children who received paravertebral block were compared with a matched historical controls. The median time to extubation was shorter in the PVB group (0 hr, IQR 0-3 hrs) compared to the control group (16 hrs, IQR 4-20 hrs) (P value 0.017*). Intraoperative and postoperative fentanyl requirement was much lower in the PVB group (3.49 (0.91)) compared to the control group (9.86 (1.37)) P value <0.01*. Time to first rescue dose of analgesic was longer (7 hrs vs 5 hrs, P 0.01*), while time to extubation and duration of ICU stay were significantly less in PVB group . Mean postoperative pain scores were significantly lower in the PVB group at the time of ICU admission (0.85 vs 3.12, P 0.001*) till 4 hours (2.11 vs 3.32, P 0.001*). Conclusion: PVB provides an effective and safe anaesthetic approach which can form an important component of "fast-track" care in paediatric cardiac surgery.

Incidence and Predictors of Dysglycemia and Regression to Normoglycemia in Indian Adolescents and Young Adults: 10-Year Follow-Up of the ORANGE Study.

Background: The prevalence of diabetes in youth is increasing worldwide in parallel with the obesity epidemic. This study aimed to determine the incidence rates of dysglycemia (diabetes or prediabetes) and evaluate the predictors of its progression or regression to normal glucose tolerance (NGT) in a cohort of children and adolescents studied in Chennai, South India. Methods: A longitudinal follow-up of the Obesity Reduction and Awareness of Noncommunicable Diseases through Group Education (ORANGE) cohort was performed after a median of 7.1 years (n = 845; 5928 person-years of follow-up). To determine their diabetes status at follow-up, participants underwent an oral glucose tolerance test (n = 811 with NGT and 34 with prediabetes at baseline), excluding those with diabetes at baseline. Incidence rates for dysglycemia were reported per 1000 person-years of follow-up. Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate the predictors of progression and regression. Results: Out of 811 individuals with NGT at baseline, 115 developed dysglycemia giving an incidence rate of 20.2 per 1000 person-years (95% confidence interval: 16.8-24.2). Among those with prediabetes at baseline, 70.6% of the individuals converted to NGT and the remaining 29.4% either got converted to diabetes or remained as prediabetes. Higher age, body mass index, fasting plasma glucose, 2-hour plasma glucose (2-h PG), positive family history of diabetes, and systolic blood pressure (BP) were independent predictors of incident dysglycemia, whereas lower age, waist circumference, 2-h PG, systolic BP, and triglycerides predicted regression to normoglycemia. Conclusions: This study highlights the growing burden of dysglycemia in Asian Indian youth and emphasizes the need for targeted preventive actions.