Targeted temperature management at 36°C is a risk factor for ventilator-associated pneumonia.

BACKGROUND: In contrast to the adult population, limited information is currently available on risk factors for ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in children. Therapeutic hypothermia has been identified as a risk factor for the early onset of VAP in adults; however, the relationship between VAP and normothermia remains unclear. The present study investigated risk factors for VAP in children, with a focus on the deleterious effects of therapeutic normothermia on VAP. METHODS: We retrospectively investigated the clinical characteristics of children treated with mechanical ventilation for more than 48 h and analyzed risk factors for VAP. The endpoint was the onset of VAP by the seventh day after the initiation of mechanical ventilation. RESULTS: Among the 288 patients enrolled, seven (2.4%) developed VAP. No significant differences were observed in clinical backgrounds between the VAP and non-VAP groups. A univariate analysis identified target temperature management (TTM) at 36°C (p < 0.0001) and methylprednisolone (mPSL) pulse therapy (p = 0.02) as risk factors for VAP. An analysis of the time to the onset of VAP by the Kaplan-Meier plot and log-rank test revealed a significantly higher incidence of VAP in the TTM group (p < 0.0001) and mPSL pulse group (p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: TTM at 36°C and mPSL pulse therapy may be risk factors for VAP in the pediatric population.

Pulmonary veno-occlusive disease after respiratory syncytial virus infection in a post hematopoietic stem cell transplantation patient.

Background: Pulmonary veno-occlusive disease (PVOD) is a rare but fatal complication of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Although literature on PVOD post-HSCT is scarce, a recent study has indicated that this condition may be underestimated. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a common respiratory pathogen that causes common cold in healthy individuals but may lead to severe lower respiratory infection accompanied by respiratory distress in infants and immunocompromised individuals, such as post-HSCT patients. However, little is known about the relationship between PVOD and RSV infections. Case report: A 4-year-old boy was diagnosed with metastatic neuroblastoma and underwent intensive chemotherapy, autologous HSCT, and allogeneic cord blood transplantation (CBT). He experienced PVOD on day 194 following CBT after displaying upper respiratory symptoms and positive RSV antigen test results approximately one month prior. Pathological examination of a lung biopsy specimen revealed lung injury suspected to be associated with viral infection in addition to PVOD-related findings, suggesting that RSV infection might have contributed to the onset of PVOD. Conclusions: The patient's clinical history and histological findings indicated that RSV could have triggered the development of PVOD under potential endothelial damage caused by HSCT and other prior treatments. Common respiratory viral infections, such as RSV infection, may evoke the development of PVOD.

Effectiveness of Plasma Exchange in a Girl With Corticosteroid-Resistant Anti-myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein-Associated Disease.

The patient was a 6-year-old girl with clinically isolated syndrome-like anti-myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein-associated disease (MOG-AD). Methylprednisolone pulse therapy resolved her cerebral lesion, and her visual acuity and field fully recovered after plasma exchange. This is the first case report presenting the therapeutic course in a child with clinically isolated syndrome-like MOG-AD. [J Pediatr Ophthalmol Strabismus. 2023;60(2):e11-e15.].

Respiratory Complications Between Cuffed and Uncuffed Endotracheal Tubes in Pediatric Respiratory Management After Palatoplasty: Single-Center Retrospective Cohort Study.

We aimed to examine the associations between use of cuffed or uncuffed endotracheal tubes (ETTs) and complications during and after short-term intubation of post-palatoplasty patients without intrinsic lung disease. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Operating room and PICU. PATIENTS: Children without intrinsic lung disease who had undergone palatoplasty at a single institution. Inclusion criteria: intubation using ETTs with an internal diameter of 3.5 mm and postoperative management in the PICU. Exclusion criteria: 1) patients for whom ETTs with internal diameters other than 3.5 mm were used, 2) patients who had already been extubated in the operating room, and 3) patients who had a tracheostomy. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Eighty-seven patients were screened for eligibility; 71 met the inclusion criteria. Of the 71 patients, 41 (58%) with polyurethane-cuffed ETTs (PUC-ETTs) and 30 (42%) with uncuffed ETTs were enrolled. We failed to identify an association between type of PUC-ETT and the development of atelectasis (odds ratio [OR], 1.06; 95% CI, 0.35-3.20; p = 1.00). Similarly, we failed to identify an association between type of PUC-ETT and development of stridor (OR, 1.58; 95% CI, 0.43-5.81; p = 0.715) or hoarseness after extubation (OR, 7.03; 95% CI, 0.83-59.6; p = 0.10). At extubation, air leak pressure was higher in the PUC-ETT group than in the uncuffed ETT group (p < 0.001), a finding which was not evident at intubation. The number of patients who received IV dexamethasone and the cases of inhaled racemic epinephrine were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: In this select population of post-palatoplasty infants without intrinsic lung disease, we failed to identify any association between type of ETT (cuffed or uncuffed) and greater odds of developing respiratory complications. Taken together with the 95% CI of the effect size, our data indicate continued uncertainty about type of ETT that should be used for short-term intubation.

Refractory status epilepticus with fever due to mumps vaccine-induced encephalitis caused secondary encephalopathy mimicking acute encephalopathy with biphasic seizures and late reduced diffusion.

BACKGROUND: Encephalitis due to vaccination for mumps is a rare complication that occurs in 0.00004% of recipients, and there has been no report of serious neurological sequelae. Acute encephalopathy with biphasic seizures and late reduced diffusion (AESD) has been reported as the most frequent type among acute encephalopathy syndromes in the pediatric population in Japan. There has been no report of AESD caused by vaccinations. Case presentation We present the clinical course of a 1-year and 10-month-old boy who had no preexisting condition, and developed mumps vaccine-induced severe primary encephalitis. Refractory status epilepticus due to encephalitis persisted for 16 h and resulted in secondary encephalopathy as a form of AESD mimic. He had serious neurological sequelae, such as West syndrome, transient spastic tetraplegia, and intellectual disability, despite intensive treatments. DISCUSSION: The presented boy is the first patient to develop mumps vaccine-induced primary encephalitis with severe central nervous system (CNS) damage. Screening of the immunological background in the presented patient revealed no abnormalities; therefore, it is unclear why he developed such severe adverse events. In patients with acute encephalitis caused by the herpes simplex virus 1, inborn immune errors in CNS based on mutations in single genes are involved in its pathophysiology. Consequently, some immunogenetic alterations could be found by further analysis in the presented patient.

Reduced impact of viral load of HHV-6 in liquor on severity of AESD due to exanthema subitum: A case report and literature review.

BACKGROUND: The most common causative pathogen of acute encephalopathy with biphasic seizures and late reduced diffusion (AESD) was reported as HHV-6. Although excitotoxic injury with delayed neuronal death is considered to be a possible pathogenesis of AESD, the detailed pathophysiology remains unclear. CASE PRESENTATION: We present a twelve-month-old girl with AESD due to HHV-6 primary infection. She was successfully treated for AESD including targeted temperature management and the administration of vitamin B1, B6, and L-carnitine. Although the viral load of HHV-6 in her liquor was high (12,000 copies/mL), she fully recovered without antiviral agent use. DISCUSSION: There has been no study focusing on the HHV-6 viral load in patients with AESD, and only a few case reports have been published. We reviewed the clinical features and viral load in the liquor of our case and four reported infants with AESD due to HHV-6 primary infection who had real-time PCR tests results. Viral loads in the three patients with a poor prognosis were 31.5, negative, and 3,390 copies/mL, respectively. On the other hand, the copy numbers of HHV-6 DNA in the two patients with no sequelae were 12,000 and 106 copies/mL, respectively, and our case had the highest viral load among the five summarized patients.

Early prognostic factors for acute encephalopathy with reduced subcortical diffusion.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the prognostic factors for acute encephalopathy with reduced diffusion (AED) during the acute phase through retrospective case evaluation. METHODS: The participants included 23 patients with AED. The diagnosis of AED was based on their clinical course and radiological findings. We divided the patients into severe and non-severe groups based on the neurodevelopmental outcome. The severe group included seven patients (median age, 21 months; range, 6-87 months) and the non-severe group included 16 patients (19 months, 9-58 months). Clinical symptoms, laboratory data and electroencephalogram (EEG) findings within 48 h from the initial seizure onset were compared between the two groups to identify neurological outcome predictors. RESULTS: The incidence of coma 12-24 h after onset, serum creatinine (Cr) levels within 2 h after onset, maximum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels within 24 h after onset, and the rate of electrographic seizures in EEG were significantly higher in the severe group (Coma, 80%; Cr, 0.40 mg/dl, 0.37-0.73; AST, 363 IU/L, 104-662; electrographic seizures, 80%) than the non-severe group (Coma, 0%; Cr, 0.29 mg/dL, 0.19-0.45; AST, 58.5 IU/L, 30-386; electrographic seizures, 0%). CONCLUSIONS: Coma 12-24 h after onset, elevation of Cr levels within 2 h after onset, elevation of AST levels within 24 h after onset, and non-convulsive status epileptics (NCSE) in comatose patients were early predictors of severe AED. Patients in a coma after a febrile seizure should be checked for NCSE signs in EEG to terminate NCSE without delay.

Interleukin-8-producing primary cardiac undifferentiated sarcoma in a child with sustained fever.

We report the case of a 12-year-old boy with primary undifferentiated sarcoma of the left atrium. He had sustained fever during the clinical course and multiple lung and brain metastases. Chemotherapy and irradiation were ineffective; he died 41 days after hospitalization. On retrospective analysis, interleukin-8 (IL-8) was elevated; this was supported by immunohistochemistry and gene expression analysis of tumor samples. IL-8 continued to increase with tumor progression accompanied by elevated neutrophil count and C-reactive protein. IL-8 is involved in malignant tumor proliferation, migration, and angiogenesis and may have been related to the clinical condition and prognosis in the present case.

Exfoliative toxin A staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome in preterm infants.

UNLABELLED: Staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome (SSSS) demonstrates dermal symptoms due to exfoliative toxin (ET) A or ETB produced by Staphylococcus aureus. We examined the association between anti-ETA antibodies and SSSS onset in neonates. Three preterm infants carried an ETA-producing strain of S. aureus, manifesting as either SSSS or bullous impetigo; a full-term infant carrying the same strain was asymptomatic. The infants (n=106) were categorized into three groups according to their gestational age (GA) as follows: <30 weeks, 30-37 weeks, and >37 weeks. The measured levels of anti-ETA antibody in the three infants displaying SSSS were low before the onset of dermal symptoms; only the asymptomatic full-term infant displayed a high antibody level. Anti-ETA antibody levels in the preterm group with a GA of <30 weeks were statistically lower than those in the term infant group; the prevalences of anti-ETA antibodies above a cutoff value in the three groups of neonates were 55 % (18/33) among preterm infants with a GA <30 weeks, 73 % (25/34) among those with a GA of 30-37 weeks, and 90 % (35/39) among infants with a GA >37 weeks. CONCLUSION: The presence of anti-ETA antibodies below a particular cutoff level might be associated with SSSS onset in preterm infants.

Protocol-based noninvasive positive pressure ventilation for acute respiratory failure.

PURPOSE: Noninvasive positive pressure ventilation (NPPV) has been suggested to be associated with adverse outcomes in emergency patients with acute respiratory failure (ARF), possibly because of a delay in tracheal intubation (TI). We hypothesized that protocol-based NPPV (pNPPV) might improve the outcomes, compared with individual physician-directed NPPV (iNPPV). METHODS: To guide decision making regarding the use of NPPV, we developed an NPPV protocol. Observational data were collected before and after protocol implementation in consecutive patients with ARF and compared between the pNPPV and the iNPPV groups. RESULTS: The results for pNPPV (n = 37) were compared with those for iNPPV (n = 37). No significant baseline differences in patient characteristics were observed between the two groups except for mean age, which was higher in the pNPPV group than in the iNPPV group (P = 0.02). Rate of TI and duration of mechanical ventilation were similar in the two groups. However, the time from the start of NPPV until TI tended to be shorter in the pNPPV group than in the iNPPV group (P = 0.11). The hospital mortality rate was significantly lower in the pNPPV group than in the iNPPV group (P = 0.049). Although the length of hospital stay was shorter in the pNPPV group than in the iNPPV group, this trend did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.14). CONCLUSIONS: The present study suggests that pNPPV is effective and likely to improve the mortality rate of emergency patients with ARF.

[Inhaled nitric oxide therapy].

Inhaled nitric oxide (NO) therapy is a measure to improve pulmonary hypertension and ventilation-perfusion inequality by administering NO gas. Basic studies suggest that low concentrations of inhaled NO decreases the increased pulmonary capillary pressure, depresses the increased permeability of pulmonary vasculature, inhibits the increased agglutination and adhesion of leucocytes to the lungs, depresses the increased agglutination and adhesion of platelets, and decreases the hypertensive remodeling of pulmonary vasculature. In the emergency and critical care settings, quite a lot of life-threatening patients with the exacerbation of pulmonary hypertension and/or hypoxemia by trauma, surgery and infections are admitted for treatment. In this paper, we discuss the present status of inhaled NO therapy from the point of view of an emergency and critical care physician.