Scope, Safety, and Feasibility of Therapeutic Plasma Exchange in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: A Single-center Experience.

Background: Indications for therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) are expanding. We aimed to study the demographics, clinical indications, and outcomes of patients who have undergone TPE in our PICU. Materials and methods: This is a retrospective study performed among children aged from 1 month to 16 years of age. Demographics, indications, therapeutic response, serious adverse events (SAE), PICU length of stay (LOS), and death during hospitalization were studied as outcome variables. Results: Therapeutic plasma exchange was performed in 115 sessions on 24 patients for 12 different indications falling under various American Society for Apheresis (ASFA) categories. Therapeutic plasma exchange was performed on ten, four, and ten children for ASFA category I, II, and III indications, respectively. The most common indications were thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) (8/24) and acute liver failure (ALF) (6/24). During those 115 sessions, a total of five serious adverse events (SAEs) occurred, accounting for 4.3% of the cases. Minor adverse events occurred in 12 sessions (10.4%). Therapeutic response was good in 17 patients (71%) including 5 patients who underwent standard volume TPE (SV-TPE) for ALF. Median PICU LOS was 9 (range 2-120) days. The mortality rate was 12.5% (3/24). Conclusion: Therapeutic plasma exchange is effective in various clinical conditions involving various organ systems. It is an excellent therapeutic modality in children with ALF, irrespective of the exchange volume and TMA. However, SAEs do occur in the minority. How to cite this article: Balasubramanian KK, Venkatachalapathy P, Margabandhu S, Natraj R, Sridaran VK, Lakshmanan C, et al. Scope, Safety, and Feasibility of Therapeutic Plasma Exchange in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: A Single-center Experience. Indian J Crit Care Med 2023;27(10):766-770.

Hyperferritinemia in Severe Dengue Infection: Single-Center Retrospective Cohort Study.

OBJECTIVES: Hyperferritinemia in the critical phase of dengue infections may correlate with severe dengue ( sd ) disease, and our primary objective was to examine the association between ferritin level on day 1 of PICU admission and 2009 World Health Organization (WHO) criteria for sd . Our secondary objective was outcome in relation to care. It is unclear whether immunomodulatory therapy during the critical phase may restore immune homeostasis and mitigate disease severity. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS: Retrospective cohort study of children with dengue 1 month to 16 years old with admission ferritin greater than or equal to 500 ng/mL requiring PICU admission. Demographics, clinical, and laboratory parameters, presence of the 2009 WHO sd criteria and outcomes were analyzed. Immunomodulatory therapy was used when there was persistent hyperinflammation beyond the critical phase of plasma leakage. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Fifty-five patients were admitted in the critical phase of dengue with median (interquartile range) ferritin levels of 8,105 ng/mL (2,350-15,765 ng/mL). Patients with at least one WHO sd category had higher ferritin levels compared to those without any sd criteria, with the highest levels in eight patients with all three sd categories. In our cohort of 55, 52 patients (94%) recovered with standard supportive therapy. Recovery was associated with decreased ferritin levels that occurred in parallel with improved circulation and platelet counts; this included 22 of 24 patients with admission ferritin levels greater than or equal to 10,000 ng/mL and two with ferritin greater than 1,00,000 ng/mL. Immunomodulation was used in three patients with unremitting fever, persistent hyperferritinemia, and progressive multiple organ dysfunction beyond the critical phase, of whom two died. CONCLUSIONS: Hyperferritinemia in the critical phase of sd is associated with the number of 2009 WHO sd criteria present. Our data also indicate that many patients with sd recover well with supportive care.

Risk-adapted therapy for the management of cytokine release syndrome in children undergoing unmanipulated haploidentical stem cell transplantation.

BACKGROUND: We aimed to describe an algorithm for the management of cytokine release syndrome (CRS) associated with haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (haploSCT). PATIENTS AND METHODS: We performed a prospective study where children up to 18 years of age undergoing haploSCT with post-transplant cyclophosphamide from September 2014 to March 2020 were included. Supportive care included low-dose adrenaline, high-flow nasal cannula, and N-acetylcysteine (NAC). Methylprednisolone and tocilizumab were administered in the peri-engraftment phase for grade 2 CRS or one-log increase and grade 3 CRS or a two-log increase in ferritin, respectively. RESULTS: Data were analyzed in 135/148 children as 13 children died before engraftment due to sepsis. CRS was noted in 97% transplants (grade 1-74.1%, grade 2-15.6%, grade 3-6.7%, grade 4-1.4%). Grade 2 and above CRS was higher in non-malignant conditions (33% vs 13%, P-value .009). The percentage median rise in ferritin was 129%-grade 1, 171%-grade 2, and 344%-grade 3. Seven children received tocilizumab, and two of whom had ferritin values greater than 100 000 ng/mL with no mortality in this group. Low-dose adrenaline, high-flow nasal cannula, and ventilator support were needed in 13%, 10%, and 4%, respectively. Mortality in our cohort was 3/135 (2.2%), with two deaths due to sepsis and one due to grade 4 CRS. CONCLUSIONS: A risk-stratified approach using steroids in grade 2 and tocilizumab in grade 3/4 in the setting of haploSCT with NAC infusion and early use of low-dose adrenaline and HFNC can help provide adequate control of CRS, thereby ensuring optimal outcomes and survival.