The Use of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in the Management of Severe Radiation-Induced Hemorrhagic Gastritis in a Pediatric Patient.

Radiation-induced hemorrhagic gastritis is a serious and rare complication of radiation therapy. Optimal therapies in the pediatric population are not well established. We report a 2-year-old female diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma who developed hemorrhagic gastritis following chemotherapy and radiation therapy. The patient presented with acute onset anemia, hematemesis, and melena. Endoscopies revealed circumferential ulceration at the pylorus with spontaneous oozing that failed to respond effectively with multimodal medical and endoscopic therapies. Following hemodynamic stabilization, the patient was treated with hyperbaric oxygen therapy with excellent clinical response of the bleeding. Further research on the benefit of hyperbaric oxygen therapy is warranted to determine if this treatment can reduce the incidence of gastrointestinal complications in patients who have received radiation therapy.

Combined multichannel intraluminal impedance-pH (MII-pH): multicenter report of normal values from 117 children.

Although combined multichannel intraluminal impedance/esophageal pH monitoring (MII-pH) has replaced prolonged pH monitoring alone for assessing gastroesophageal reflux (GER) in the pediatric population, it does so in the absence of reference values for non-acid GER (NAGER). The purpose of this study was to identify a normal range of NAGER impedance values for infants and children. We evaluated EPM/MII tracings for patients referred for GER assessment to Nationwide Children's Hospital (Columbus, OH), Inova Children's Hospital, and Hospital Italiano (Buenos Aires, Argentina). We excluded tracings from patients who had AGER indices greater than 50 % of the upper end of normal (i.e., >3 % for children >12 months and >6 % for infants ≤ 12 months), had a positive temporal association of GER with symptoms, were on anti-reflux medications at the time of the study, and/or had a fundoplication prior to the study. We also excluded studies with durations shorter than 20 h. Values for NAGER percent time, NAGER episode frequency, frequency of proximal NAGER, and mean NAGER duration were calculated for upright position, recumbent, and total. Study population consisted of 46 infants (20 female [F]/26 male [M], median age 4.8 months [range 3 weeks-11.9 months]) with a median AGER index of 2.2 % (range 0.0-5.9 %) and 71 children (22 F/49 M, median age 7.2 years [range 1.3-17 years]) with a median AGER index of 1.1 % (range 0-3.0 %). Data are presented in tables in the text. The results of this study provide a range of values characteristic of infants and children with normal AGER indices and no positive temporal associations of GER with symptoms. These values may be used as references for comparison to identify infants and/or children who may be at risk of developing serious clinical manifestations due to abnormal patterns of GER.

Isoniazid-related hepatic failure in children: a survey of liver transplantation centers.

BACKGROUND: Isoniazid (INH) therapy for tuberculosis carries a known risk for hepatoxicity, and leads to hepatic failure in a small subset of patients. This incidence has been described for adults, but is uncertain in children. Our aim was to estimate the incidence of pediatric referrals for INH-related liver failure, and to describe the characteristics and outcomes of these patients. METHODS: The 84 U.S. centers performing pediatric liver transplants between 1987 and 1997 were surveyed regarding patients with INH-induced liver failure. Additional transplant statistics were obtained from the United Network for Organ Sharing. Estimates of the number of children taking preventive INH were derived from a nationwide public health database. RESULTS: Twenty cases of INH-related liver failure were found during a 10-year period. Four patients (20%) recovered spontaneously; 10 (50%) underwent orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT), while six (30%) died awaiting OLT. Mean age at presentation was 9.8 years (range 1.3-17). Mean length of INH therapy was 3.3 months (range 0.5-9). Notably, five patients seen for symptoms of hepatitis were initially told not to stop treatment. INH-associated liver failure accounted for 0.2% (8 of 4679) of all pediatric OLTs, and 14% (8/56) of transplants for drug hepatoxicity. The estimated incidence of liver failure was up to 3.2/100,000 for children on prophylactic INH. CONCLUSIONS: While INH-associated liver failure in children is rare, discontinuation at the onset of symptoms does not assure recovery. This indicates a need for increased awareness of hepatotoxicity risk, expanded biochemical monitoring for children receiving INH, and prompt withdrawal in symptomatic patients.