Operating Within the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Retrospective Analysis From a Tertiary Care Center.

Background Despite ongoing advances in the field of neonatology, the survival outcomes among critically ill preterm surgical neonates remain unfavorable. Intrahospital transport is one of the major risk factors associated with early mortality (within 30 days) in these newborns. To overcome this, the approach of performing bedside surgeries is being followed. We aim to assess the safety and feasibility of performing bedside neonatal surgeries by analyzing our archives. Methods The study focused on retrospective evaluation of all the newborns who have undergone surgical procedures in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at our center from August 2015 through February 2021. Newborns were operated within the NICU if they had very low birth weight or other risk factors making their transport to the operation room risky. The outcomes of surgeries were assessed in terms of postoperative complications, one-month survival, and overall survival. Results Thirteen children (M:F=9:4) underwent twenty-two surgical procedures. The median (range) gestational age and birth weight of our cohort were 30 (26-36) weeks and 1200 (500-2860) grams, respectively. One-month and overall survival rates in our cohort were 84% (11/13) and 77% (10/13), respectively. No major postoperative complications were observed. The requirement of multiple inotropes and/or high-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) was the only factor having a significant association with unfavorable survival outcomes. Conclusions Bedside surgery is a safe and feasible alternative to surgeries within the operation room for at-risk newborns. In the present study, the requirement of multiple inotropes and/or HFOV was the only factor significantly associated with early mortality.

Role of interventional radiology in the management of complex pediatric surgical cases.

INTRODUCTION: Minimally-invasive techniques offered by interventional radiology (IR) are really helpful in the management of challenging surgical cases. The current report highlights a series of four complex pediatric surgical cases which were successfully managed by specific image-guided techniques. CASE PRESENTATION: The first two cases in the present report were infants. One of them had a complicated type-1 choledochal cyst (obstructive jaundice and cholangitis) and was optimized with preoperative percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD) under fluoroscopic guidance. The other child had bilateral ureteropelvic junction obstruction and presented with urosepsis. Due to failure of retrograde stenting on one side, image-guided percutaneous nephrostomy and antegrade stenting were performed. The third and fourth cases had suffered blunt trauma to the abdomen. While one of them developed multiple pseudoaneurysms and arterioportal fistulae in the liver, the other had transection of the right posterior sectoral duct. Angioembolization of the pseudoaneurysms and embolization of the right posterior sectoral duct were performed for them under image-guidance respectively. The post-procedural course of all the above children was uneventful. DISCUSSION: Image-guided minimally invasive procedures are associated with less post-procedural pain, early recovery, and better cosmetic outcomes. In specific scenarios, they may even obviate the need for surgical intervention, thereby reducing the overall morbidity. CONCLUSION: Interventional radiology offers safe and effective alternatives to operative interventions. They are especially useful in the backdrop of significant morbidities like cholangitis, urosepsis, and trauma.

Early Outcomes of Neonatal Cardiac Surgery in India.

OBJECTIVE: To assess outcomes and factors influencing outcomes in neonates requiring cardiac surgery in India. METHODS: This study reports on review of hospital data from a tertiary care cardiac surgical institute from January-2009 to December-2015. RESULTS: A total of 200 neonates were included; of them, 5% of the cases were antenatally diagnosed and most of them had unmonitored transport (111, 55.5%). The overall mortality rate was 13.5%, (n=27) and 178 (89%) underwent complete defect repair. There was a significant association of mortality with shock, the number of inotropes, intra-operative procedure, residual lesion, aortic cross-clamp and deep hypothermic circulatory arrest time (all P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed ventilation duration, cardiac-bypass time, shock, and residual cardiac lesion as independent predictors of mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Cardiac defects were found to have late detection and most transports were unmonitored. Complete surgical repair and shorter cardiac bypass time can potentially improve neonatal cardiac surgical outcomes.

Treatment of Elizabethkingia meningoseptica Neonatal Meningitis with Combination Systemic and Intraventricular Therapy.

Elizabethkingia meningoseptica, a gram negative bacillus ubiquitous in the hospital environment, is known to infrequently cause serious neonatal infections, particularly meningitis which is associated with high mortality and neuromorbidity in survivors. The authors describe a healthy term newborn with no apparent risk factors who developed Elizabethkingia meningoseptica sepsis and meningitis on day 6 of life. Diagnosis could be established only after a week of the illness by which time the baby developed refractory status epilepticus, ventriculitis and hydrocephalus. The isolate was susceptible to only ciprofloxacin, tigecycline and rifampicin and resistant to vancomycin. Apart from systemic combination therapy for 12 wk, intraventricular vancomycin was given through an external ventricular drain for 4 wk and later a ventriculo-peritoneal (VP) shunt was inserted. With this regime, authors demonstrated microbiologic and clinical cure. The baby is neurologically normal over a 6 mo follow-up.

Elective delayed sternal closure portends better outcomes in congenital heart surgery: a retrospective observational study.

INTRODUCTION: Delayed sternal closure is used in paediatric cardiac surgery as a management strategy for patients with unstable hemodynamics or postoperative bleeding routinely. We hypothesise that planned postponement of sternal closure leads to better outcomes than emergent reopening in the intensive care unit (ICU) in patients exhibiting some hemodynamic indication for the same. METHODS: We retrospectively analysed the outcomes of delayed sternal closure 220/2111 (10.42%) out of which 14 sternums were opened in the ICU after shifting the patients. RESULTS: A total of 220/2111 (10.42%) sternums were left open postoperatively, out of which 14 were opened after shifting to the ICU. Total mortality of the delayed sternal closure was 33/220, i.e. 15%. The patients whose sternums were left open from the theatre had a mortality of 23/206, i.e. 11.16%, whereas those patients whose sternums were opened in the ICU had a mortality of 10/14, i.e. 71.42%. CONCLUSION: In doubtful postoperatively hemodynamic, the choice of leaving the sternum open electively has better outcomes, rather than opening the sternum as a terminal bail out procedure.

iNICU - Integrated Neonatal Care Unit: Capturing Neonatal Journey in an Intelligent Data Way.

Neonatal period represents first 28 days of life, which is the most vulnerable time for a child's survival especially for the preterm babies. High neonatal mortality is a prominent and persistent problem across the globe. Non-availability of trained staff and infrastructure are the major recognized hurdles in the quality care of these neonates. Hourly progress growth charts and reports are still maintained manually by nurses along with continuous calculation of drug dosage and nutrition as per the changing weight of the baby. iNICU (integrated Neonatology Intensive Care Unit) leverages Beaglebone and Intel Edison based IoT integration with biomedical devices in NICU i.e. monitor, ventilator and blood gas machine. iNICU is hosted on IBM Softlayer based cloud computing infrastructure and map NICU workflow in Java based responsive web application to provide translational research informatics support to the clinicians. iNICU captures real time vital parameters i.e. respiration rate, heart rate, lab data and PACS amounting for millions of data points per day per child. Stream of data is sent to Apache Kafka layer which stores the same in Apache Cassandra NoSQL. iNICU also captures clinical data like feed intake, urine output, and daily assessment of child in PostgreSQL database. It acts as first Big Data hub (of both structured and unstructured data) of neonates across India offering temporal (longitudinal) data of their stay in NICU and allow clinicians in evaluating efficacy of their interventions. iNICU leverages drools based clinical rule based engine and deep learning based big data analytical model coded in R and PMML. iNICU solution aims to improve care time, fills skill gap, enable remote monitoring of neonates in rural regions, assists in identifying the early onset of disease, and reduction in neonatal mortality.

Effect of dexmeditomidine on postoperative junctional ectopic tachycardia after complete surgical repair of tetralogy of Fallot: A prospective randomized controlled study.

INTRODUCTION: Incidence of junctional ectopic tachycardia (JET) after repair of tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) is 5.6-14%. Dexmeditomidine is a a-2 adrenoceptor agonist modulates the release of catecholamine, resulting in bradycardia and hypotension. These effects are being explored as a therapeutic option for the prevention of perioperative tachyarrhythmia. We undertook this study to examine possible preventive effects of dexmedetomidine on postoperative JET and its impact on the duration of ventilation time and length of Intensive Care Unit stay. METHODS: After obtaining approval from the hospitals ethics committee and written informed consent from parents, this quasi-randomized trial was initiated. Of 94 patients, 47 patients received dexmedetomidine (dexmedetomidine group) and 47 patients did not receive the drug (control group). RESULTS: Dexmedetomidine group had more number of complex variants like TOF with an absent pulmonary valve or pulmonary atresia (P = 0.041). Hematocrit on cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), heart rate while coming off from CPB and inotrope score was significantly low in the dexmedetomidine group compared to control group. The incidence of JET was significantly low in dexmedetomidine group (P = 0.040) compared to control group. CONCLUSIONS: Dexmedetomidine may have a potential benefit of preventing perioperative JET.

Airway pressure release ventilation: a neonatal case series and review of current practice.

BACKGROUND: The use of airway pressure release ventilation (APRV) in very low birth weight infants is limited. OBJECTIVE: To report the authors' institutional experience and to review the current literature regarding the use of APRV in pediatric populations. METHODS: Neonates <1500 g ventilated using APRV from 2005 to 2006 at McMaster Children's Hospital (Hamilton, Ontario) were retrospectively reviewed. Publications describing APRV in children from 1987 to 2011 were reviewed. RESULTS: Five infants, 24 to 28 weeks' gestational age, were ventilated using APRV. Indications for APRV were refractory hypoxemia (n=3), ventilatory dyssynchrony (n=1) and minimizing sedatives (n=1). All infants appeared to tolerate APRV well with no recorded adverse events. Current pediatric evidence regarding APRV is primarily observational. Published experience reveals that APRV settings in pediatrics often approximate those used in adults, thus deviating from the original guidelines recommended in children. Clinical outcomes, such as oxygenation, ventilation and sedation requirements, are inconsistent. CONCLUSIONS: APRV is primarily used as a rescue ventilation mode in children. Neonatal evidence is limited; however, the present study indicates that APRV is feasible in very low birth weight infants. There are unique considerations when applying this mode in small infants. Further research is necessary to confirm whether APRV is a safe and effective ventilation strategy in this population.