Incidence and Management of Neonatal Pneumothorax in a 10-Hospital Regional Perinatal Network in Switzerland: A Retrospective Observational Study.

OBJECTIVE: Pneumothorax (PTX) is a potentially life-threatening condition that affects neonates, with an incidence of 0.05 to 2%. Its management includes conservative treatment, chest tube (CT) drainage, and needle aspiration (NA). Aims were to evaluate the incidence of PTX in a 10-hospital perinatal network, its clinical characteristics and risk factors, and to compare the different treatment options. STUDY DESIGN: All neonates diagnosed with PTX and hospitalized in the network were included in this retrospective observational trial over a period of 30 months. Primary outcome was the incidence of PTX. Secondary outcomes were the treatment modality, the length of stay (LOS), and the number of chest X-rays. RESULTS: Among the 173 neonates included, the overall incidence of PTX was 0.56 per 100 births with a large range among the hospitals (0.12-1.24). Thirty-nine percent of pneumothoraces were treated conservatively, 41% by CT drainage, 13% by NA, and 7% by combined treatment. Failure rate was higher for NA (37%) than for CT drainage (9%). However, the number of X-rays was lower for patients treated by NA, with a median of 6 (interquartile range [IQR] 4-6.25), than by CT drainage, with a median of 9 (IQR 7-12). LOS was shorter for NA than for CT drainage, with a median of 2 (IQR 1-4.25) and 6 days (IQR 3-15), respectively. Complications, including apnea and urinary retention, occurred in 28% of patients managed with CT drainage, whereas none was observed with NA. CONCLUSION: High variability of PTX incidence was observed among the hospitals within the network, but these values correspond to the literature. NA showed to reduce the number of X-rays, the LOS, and complications compared with CT drainage, but it carries a high failure rate. This study helped provide a new decisional management algorithm to harmonize and improve PTX treatment within our network. KEY POINTS: · Neonatal PTX is a frequent pathology with a high incidence requiring urgent management.. · We report a large variability of PTX incidence between different hospitals of the same network.. · Needle aspiration carries higher failure rate, shorter hospital stay duration without complications reported..

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia: a predictive scoring system for very low birth weight infants. A diagnostic accuracy study with prospective data collection.

Our aim was to develop and validate a predictive risk score for bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), according to two clinically used definitions: 1. Need for supplementary oxygen during ≥ 28 cumulative days, BPD28, 2. Need for supplementary oxygen at 36 weeks postmenstrual age (PMA), BPD36. Logistic regression was performed in a national cohort (infants born in Switzerland with a birth weight < 1501 g and/or between 23 0/7 and 31 6/7 weeks PMA in 2009 and 2010), to identify predictors of BPD. We built the score as the sum of predicting factors, weighted according to their ORs, and analysed its discriminative properties by calculating the area under the ROC (receiver operating characteristic) curves (AUCs). This score was then applied to the Swiss national cohort from the years 2014-2015 to perform external validation. The incidence of BPD28 was 21.6% in the derivation cohort (n = 1488) and 25.2% in the validation cohort (n = 2006). The corresponding numbers for BPD36 were 11.3% and 11.1%, respectively. We identified gestational age, birth weight, antenatal corticosteroids, surfactant administration, proven infection, patent ductus arteriosus and duration of mechanical ventilation as independent predictors of BPD28. The AUCs of the BPD risk scores in the derivation cohort were 0.90 and 0.89 for the BPD28 and BPD36 definitions, respectively. The corresponding AUCs in the validation cohort were 0.92 and 0.88, respectively.Conclusion: This score allows for predicting the risk of a very low birth weight infant to develop BPD early in life and may be a useful tool in clinical practice and neonatal research. What is Known: • Many studies have proposed scoring systems to predict bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). • Such a risk prediction may be important to identify high-risk patients for counselling parents, research purposes and to identify candidates for specific treatment. What is New: • A predictive risk score for BPD was developed and validated in a large national multicentre cohort and its performance assessed by two indices of accuracy. • The developed scoring system allows to predict the risk of BPD development early but also at any day of life with high validity.

Gastric outlet obstruction by Brunner's gland hyperplasia in an 8-year-old child.

Several cases of Brunner's gland hyperplasia causing hemorrhage, obstruction, or intussusception have been published in the adult literature. Similar cases in the pediatric population are very rare and have only been described twice, always associated with chronic renal failure. We report the third and youngest case of gastric outlet obstruction because of Brunner's gland hyperplasia focusing on histopathologic condition and treatment based on a review of the literature.