Central Venous Pressure Estimation by Ultrasound Measurement of Inferior Vena Cava and Aorta Diameters in Pediatric Critical Patients: An Observational Study.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the ability to predict central venous pressure by ultrasound measured inferior vena cava and aortic diameters in a PICU population and to assess interoperator concordance. DESIGN: Noninterventional observational study. SETTING: PICU of a tertiary-care academic center. PATIENTS: Eighty-eight pediatric patients (0-16 yr old) with a central venous catheter in place were studied. Sixty-nine percent of the patients received positive-pressure ventilation. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: An experienced and a nonexperienced operator used ultrasound to measure the maximal diameter of inferior vena cava and minimal diameter of the inferior vena cava and the maximum diameter of the abdominal aorta from the subxiphoid window. The inferior vena cava collapsibility index and the ratio of maximal diameter of inferior vena cava/maximum diameter of the abdominal aorta were then derived. The central venous pressure was measured using a central venous catheter and recorded. Twenty-three patients had low central venous pressure values (≤ 4 mm Hg), 35 patients a value in the range of 5-9 mm Hg, and 30 patients high values (≥ 10 mm Hg). Both inferior vena cava collapsibility index and ratio of maximal diameter of inferior vena cava/maximum diameter of the abdominal aorta were predictive of high (≥ 10 mm Hg) or low (≤ 4 mm Hg) central venous pressure. The test accuracy showed the best results in predicting low central venous pressure with an inferior vena cava collapsibility index greater than or equal to 35% and ratio of maximal diameter of inferior vena cava/maximum diameter of the abdominal aorta less than or equal to 0.8, and in predicting high central venous pressure with an inferior vena cava collapsibility index less than or equal to 20% and ratio of maximal diameter of inferior vena cava/maximum diameter of the abdominal aorta greater than or equal to 1.3. Inferior vena cava collapsibility index returned generally higher accuracy values than ratio of maximal diameter of inferior vena cava/maximum diameter of the abdominal aorta. Lin's coefficient of concordance between the operators was 0.78 for inferior vena cava collapsibility index and 0.86 for ratio of maximal diameter of inferior vena cava/maximum diameter of the abdominal aorta. CONCLUSIONS: Inferior vena cava collapsibility index and ratio of maximal diameter of inferior vena cava/maximum diameter of the abdominal aorta correlate well with central venous pressure measurements in this PICU population, and specific inferior vena cava collapsibility index or ratio of maximal diameter of inferior vena cava/maximum diameter of the abdominal aorta thresholds appear to be able to differentiate children with high or low central venous pressure. However, the actual clinical application of these statistically significant results remains limited, especially by the intrinsic flaws of the procedure.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Critically Ill Children: A Narrative Review of the Literature.

Coronavirus disease 2019 has spread around the world. In the 3 months since its emergence, we have learned a great deal about its clinical management and its relevance to the pediatric critical care provider. In this article, we review the available literature and provide valuable insight into the clinical management of this disease, as well as information on preparedness activities that every PICU should perform.

Cardiac arrest in a toddler treated with propranolol for infantile Hemangioma: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Propranolol has become the first-line treatment for complicated Infantile Hemangioma (IH), showing so far a good risk-benefit profile. CASE PRESENTATION: We report the case of a toddler, on propranolol, who suffered cardiac arrest during an acute viral infection. She had a neurally-mediated syncope that progressed to asystole, probably because of concurrent factors as dehydration, beta-blocking and probably individual susceptibility to vaso-vagal phenomena. In fact a significant history of breath-holding spells was consistent with vagal hyperactivity. CONCLUSIONS: The number of patients treated with propranolol for IHs will increase and sharing experience will help to better define the safety profile of this drug.

The use of levosimendan in children with cancer with severe acute cardiac dysfunction: case series and a review of the literature.

We report the use of levosimendan in two febrile, neutropenic children with cancer - one post bone marrow transplant - with acute heart failure following chemotherapy. Initial management with epinephrine, milrinone, and diuresis was unsuccessful. Infusion of levosimendan without a loading dose was added to the ongoing heart failure therapy, which resulted in persistent symptomatic and echocardiographic improvement without major side effects.

Effects of aerobic exercise training in children after the Fontan operation.

It was demonstrated that patients who have undergone the Fontan operation can safely undertake exercise training and that this results in an improvement in aerobic capacity. These findings suggest that aerobic training could be useful in the long-term management of these patients to optimize their cardiovascular fitness for more active lives.