Craniotomy Complicated by Severe Metabolic Acidosis Requiring Massive Transfusion in an Infant on Ketogenic Diet Therapy for Intractable Epilepsy.

The induction of a ketotic state through dietary manipulation, known as the ketogenic diet (KD), is an alternative or supplementary treatment to drug-resistant epilepsy. By sustaining a ketogenic state, the KD results in various biological adaptations which contribute to its success as an anti-seizure therapy. While the induction and maintenance of ketosis generally results in only a low-grade metabolic acidosis, various exogenous stresses such as surgery and anesthetic care may disrupt homeostasis resulting in exaggerated ketosis and severe metabolic acidosis. Metabolic acidosis may have significant effects on various physiologic functions including cardiovascular performance, coagulation function, and electrolyte balance. We present a 7-month-old patient receiving a KD who presented for craniotomy and resection of an epileptogenic focus. During intraoperative care, progressive acidosis and hyperchloremia were noted with ongoing tissue fragility and hyperemia, parenchymal friability, and coagulopathy. Though the acidosis was temporarily blunted by administration of sodium bicarbonate and a change to sodium acetate containing fluids, ultimately poor hemostasis resulted requiring significant blood product transfusion. The metabolic effects of the KD are reviewed with emphasis on acid-base disturbances and impact on coagulation function.

Risk Assessment for Postoperative Pneumonia in Children Living With Neurologic Impairments.

BACKGROUND: Approximately one-third of all pediatric hospital charges are attributable to the care for children living with neurologic comorbidities. These children often require various surgical procedures and may have an elevated risk of lower respiratory infections because of poor neuromuscular coordination, poor cough, uncoordinated swallowing, and poor oral hygiene. Our objective was to evaluate the risk of pneumonia in children presenting with neurologic comorbidities. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study of children (<18 years) who underwent inpatient surgery between 2012 and 2018 in hospitals participating in the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program. Our primary outcome was the time to incident pneumonia within the 30 days after surgery. RESULTS: We identified 349 163 children, of whom 2191 developed pneumonia (30-day cumulative incidence: 0.6%). The presence of a preoperative neurologic comorbidity conferred approximately twofold higher risk of postoperative pneumonia (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.91, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.73-2.11). We explored the risk of pneumonia conferred by the components of neurologic comorbidity: cerebral palsy (HR: 3.92, 95% CI: 3.38-4.56), seizure disorder (HR: 2.93, 95% CI: 2.60-3.30), neuromuscular disorder (HR: 2.63, 95% CI: 2.32-2.99). The presence of a neurologic comorbidity was associated with a longer length of hospital stay (incidence rate ratio: 1.26, 95% CI: 1.25-1.28). CONCLUSIONS: The risk of postoperative pneumonia was almost twofold higher in children with neurologic comorbidity. The magnitude of these associations underscores the need to identify areas of research and preventive strategies to reduce the excess risk of pneumonia in children with preoperative neurologic conditions.

Comparison of blood pressure measurements in the upper and lower extremities versus arterial blood pressure readings in children under general anesthesia.

PURPOSE: To compare invasive blood pressure (IBP) readings obtained from an arterial cannula with non-invasive blood pressure (NIBP) measurements from oscillometric cuffs on the upper and lower extremities of infants and children under general anesthesia. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients under 10 years of age were enrolled in our study if they were to receive general anesthesia with planned placement of a radial arterial cannula. At 5 mins intervals, IBP was measured using a fluid-coupled pressure transducer and NIBP was measured with two oscillometers with appropriately sized cuffs placed on the upper arm and lower leg, for 10 readings per patient. RESULTS: The study enrolled 18 boys and 12 girls, ranging in age from 0 to 8 years. Across 300 data points, the absolute difference between the arm and invasive mean arterial pressure (MAP) measurements was 7±7 mmHg (range: 0-52 mmHg). The absolute difference between the leg and invasive MAP measurements was 8±8 mmHg (range: 0-52 mmHg). Although both non-invasive measurement sites demonstrated frequent deviation from invasive measurement, large deviations were more common when BP was measured at the leg (81 of 298 observations (27%) deviating by >10 mmHg) compared to the arm (60 of 300 observations (20%) deviating by >10 mmHg). CONCLUSION: The frequency of clinically significant NIBP deviation in children under general anesthesia supports the importance of IBP monitoring when hemodynamic fluctuations are likely and would be particularly detrimental. NIBP measured at the lower leg is more likely to result in clinically significant deviation from invasively measured MAP than NIBP values obtained from an upper arm.

Management Challenges in an Infant With Pentalogy of Cantrell, Giant Anterior Encephalocele, and Craniofacial Anomalies: A Case Report.

Pentalogy of Cantrell is a rare syndrome consisting of midline abnormalities involving the heart, sternum, abdominal wall, and the anterior and pericardial diaphragm. This combination of defects places patients at particular perioperative risk and requires individualized management during anesthetic care. The following report documents the management of a patient with pentalogy of Cantrell, whose condition was further complicated by severe midline craniofacial abnormalities, including large anterior encephalocele, deficient mandible, tethered tongue, and cleft palate. The case offers insight into the complexity of care in this unique patient population.

Transarterial embolization of intractable nasal and oropharyngeal hemorrhage using liquid embolic agents.

INTRODUCTION: Intractable hemorrhage of the nasal or oropharyngeal cavities can be life threatening, and endovascular embolization is one of the few effective treatments for severe recurrent bleeds. Traditionally, embolic particles have been used for transarterial embolization. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the safety and efficacy of a less commonly performed treatment-namely, feeding artery occlusion with liquid embolic agents. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed our neurointerventional database for patients who had undergone transarterial embolization for intractable nasal and oropharyngeal hemorrhage with Onyx, N-butyl-2 cyanoacrylate (n-BCA) glue, or both, at our institution over a 5-year period from 2008 to 2013. RESULTS: Forty-six patients who underwent a total of 51 procedures met the inclusion criteria. Causes of hemorrhage included neoplasm n=35 (68.6%), trauma n=12 (23.5%), and idiopathic n=4 (7.9%). The bleeding was oropharyngeal in 66.7%, nasal in 29.4%, and 3.9% originated from both sites. Embolic agents used were n-BCA in 26 cases (51.0%), Onyx in 22 cases (43.1%), and both agents in three cases (5.9%). Mean total procedural time was 93.1 min (range 34-323 min), and mean fluoroscopy time was 39.1 min (10- 121 min). Mean follow-up time was 7.4 months (0.25-36 months). Five of the 46 patients (10.9%) required re-embolization and one (2.0%) rebled during the same hospital stay. One periprocedural cardiovascular adverse event occurred that was unrelated to the embolic agent used, but no other complications were seen. CONCLUSIONS: Transarterial embolization with n-BCA or Onyx is a safe and effective treatment for patients with intractable nasal and oropharyngeal hemorrhage. Further prospective studies are warranted to confirm these findings.

Challenges in sciatic nerve repair: anatomical considerations.

UNLABELLED: OBJECT.: The object of this study was to highlight the challenge of insufficient donor graft material in peripheral nerve surgery, with a specific focus on sciatic nerve transection requiring autologous sural nerve graft. METHODS: The authors performed an anatomical analysis of cadaveric sciatic and sural nerve tissue. To complement this they also present 3 illustrative clinical cases of sciatic nerve injuries with segmental defects. In the anatomical study, the cross-sectional area (CSA), circumference, diameter, percentage of neural tissue, fat content of the sural nerves, as well as the number of fascicles, were measured from cadaveric samples. The percentage of neural tissue was defined as the CSA of fascicles lined by perineurium relative to the CSA of the sural nerve surrounded by epineurium. RESULTS: Sural nerve samples were obtained from 8 cadaveric specimens. Mean values and standard deviations from sural nerve measurements were as follows: CSA 2.84 ± 0.91 mm(2), circumference 6.67 ± 1.60 mm, diameter 2.36 ± 0.43 mm, fat content 0.83 ± 0.91 mm(2), and number of fascicles 9.88 ± 3.68. The percentage of neural tissue seen on sural nerve cross-section was 33.17% ± 4.96%. One sciatic nerve was also evaluated. It had a CSA of 37.50 mm(2), with 56% of the CSA representing nerve material. The estimated length of sciatic nerve that could be repaired with a bilateral sural nerve harvest (85 cm) varied from as little as 2.5 cm to as much as 8 cm. CONCLUSIONS: Multiple methods have been used in the past to repair sciatic nerve injury but most commonly, when a considerable gap is present, autologous nerve grafting is required, with sural nerve being the foremost source. As evidenced by the anatomical data reported in this study, a considerable degree of variability exists in the diameter of sural nerve harvests. Conversely, the percentage of neural tissue is relatively consistent across specimens. The authors recommend that the peripheral nerve surgeon take these points into consideration during nerve grafting as insufficient graft material may preclude successful recovery.

The role of intra-arterial chemotherapy as an adjuvant treatment for glioblastoma.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is an aggressive tumor with poor survival outcomes and limited treatment options. We conducted a literature review to compare the survival outcomes of intra-arterial (IA) and intravenous (IV) chemotherapy delivery for GBM. Nine studies of IA chemotherapy infusion with 301 total patients met our criteria for inclusion and three studies contained IV treatment groups for comparison (n = 230 for IA, n = 71 for IV). The studies were grouped by either using newly diagnosed or recurrent GBM patients. In the newly diagnosed group, IV chemotherapy produced a statistically higher median overall survival (MOS; 16.3 months) compared with IA treatment (14.02 months). However, the total number of adverse events in IA chemotherapy was 1.08 per patient whereas for IV it was higher at 1.54 events per patient. Our recurrent GBM group includes only patients treated with IA chemotherapy which resulted in an average MOS of 10.84 months. This group had 2.7 adverse events per patient but no IV group is available for comparison. Historically, the survival of patients with recurrent GBM ranges from 3 to 9 months (Gil-Gil et al. Bevacizumab for the treatment of glioblastoma. Clin Med Insights Oncol 2013;7:123-35). For this reason, we believe IA chemotherapy to be a viable methodology in recurrent GBM patients to prolong survival at the risk of procedure-related complications and in newly diagnosed patients with the benefit of decreased complications.

Retrospective comparison of craniotomy and decompressive craniectomy for surgical evacuation of nontraumatic, supratentorial intracerebral hemorrhage.

Surgical evacuation of nontraumatic, supratentorial intracerebral hemorrhage (SICH) is uncommonly performed, and outcomes are generally poor. On the basis of published experimental data and the authors' anecdotal observations, a retrospective chart review study was performed to test the hypothesis that large decompressive craniectomies (DCs), compared with craniotomies, would improve clinical outcomes after surgical evacuation of SICH. For patients with putaminal SICH, DC was associated with a statistically significant improvement in midline shift, compared with craniotomy. Decompressive craniectomies also resulted in a strong trend toward decreased likelihood of poor neurological outcome (modified Rankin Scale score > 3). For patients with lobar SICH, no associations were found between DC or craniotomy and clinical outcomes. For patients selected to undergo surgical evacuation of putaminal SICH, a DC in addition to surgical evacuation of the hematoma might improve outcome.