Central adrenal insufficiency following traumatic brain injury: a missed diagnosis in the critically injured.

BACKGROUND: High-dose steroid administration is no longer recommended in the treatment of acute traumatic brain injury (TBI) as it failed to prove beneficial in improving patients' outcome. However, a masked benefit of steroid administration in TBI management was that it provided corticosteroid replacement therapy in patients with TBI-related central adrenal insufficiency. CASE PRESENTATION: We report the case of a 12-year-old boy who suffered a severe TBI from a motor vehicle accident that resulted in complete deficiency of anterior pituitary function. Central adrenal insufficiency was not ruled out by a near normal response to a low-dose ACTH test performed on D11. CONCLUSION: Consideration should be given to the empirical treatment of TBI pediatric patients with stress doses of corticosteroids if injury to the hypothalamus or pituitary gland is possible until a formal assessment of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis can be made.

Management of non-neuropathic underactive bladder in children with voiding dysfunction by animated biofeedback: a randomized clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy of animated biofeedback and pelvic floor muscle (PFM) exercise in managing children with non-neuropathic underactive bladder (UB). METHODS: A total of 50 children with UB without underlying neuropathic disease, aged 5-16 years, were included in this study. They were randomly divided into 2 equal treatment groups comprising standard urotherapy (hydration, scheduled voiding, toilet training, and diet) with (group A) or without (group B) animated biofeedback and PFM exercise. The follow-up period for each participant was 1 year. A complete voiding and bowel habit diary was recorded by participants' parents before and after 2 evaluations. In addition, uroflowmetry with electromyography and bladder ultrasound were performed before, 6 months, and 1 year after treatment. Results were compared between the 2 cohorts. RESULTS: Mean number of voiding episodes was significantly increased in group A after biofeedback therapy compared with group B with only standard urotherapy (6.6 ± 1.6 vs 4.5 ± 1 times a day; P <.000). Urinary tract infection did not relapse in 9 of 11 (81%) and 8 of 15 (38%) patients in groups A and B, respectively (P <.02). Postvoid residual volume and voiding time decreased considerably, whereas maximum urine flow increased significantly in group A compared with group B (17.2 ± 4.7 vs 12.9 ± 4.6 mL/s; P <.01). CONCLUSION: Combination of animated biofeedback and PFM exercise effectively improves sensation of bladder fullness and contractility in children with UB due to voiding dysfunction.